Why He Stayed
by Phishouttawatta
Summary: He wasn't sure why he stayed. could a simple impulse lead to the disassembly of the akatsuki? itachixsakura. rating for violence, sexuality, main character death
1. In Which He Stays

Okay, this is my first naruto fic...my second serious fanfiction. I probably shouldn't start a new one...but this came to me and i really wanted to get it started and see if it caught anyone's interest. btw...flaming won't get you anywhere...i do, however, appreciate constructive criticism...any flames will be fed to Calcifer.

i hope you all like it!

oh before i forget:

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any of its characters...they all belong to kishi-face

I didn't know why I stayed. I only had one connection with the kunoichi, and it had just been severed.

Maybe it was the way her rose hair was fanned out around her. Maybe it was the way the blood spatter so intensely contasted the pale skin of her cheek. Or perhaps it was the way the way she looked up at me. Her emerald eyes, half-lidded, gazed up at me. She blinked slowly. It seemed that her orbs looked up at me as if she was expectant of something, but, in reality, they held no real, no readable emotion. The girl just stared at me. Then again, she was close to death. She probably had no energy to make any more movements.

Sasuke had brought her this close to death. My foolish brother valued his revenge for me over the woman who gave him unconditional love. Even when he was under the tutalage of Orochimaru, her loyalty for him was unshakable. She believed in him like no one else had, and he betrayed her. She got in his way, so he decided to kill her.

_There he was. There was her Sasuke-kun. And there he was, and there they were. Itachi and the rest of the Akatsuki. Sakura swallowed nervously as she peered from her hiding spot. The air around them was tense. The two brothers were just staring at eachother, waiting for the moment to strike. _

_She was worried. No matter how much Sasuke trained with Orochimaru, he would not defeat Itachi. Itachi had the Mangekyou, something she was certain Sasuke had never acquired. Sure, she believed in him. He was strong; simply put, he was an Uchiha. However, just moments ago, Orochimaru had been defeated by Itachi himself. Itachi had not even broken a sweat. _

_The rest of the Akatsuki seemed bored. She wondered if they would join in the fight. Would she? It would turn into a melee. _

_Did they know she was here? Itachi would. But would he be as preoccupied for the upcoming battle as much as Sasuke was? Not likely, but you never know. Would the rest of Akatsuki know she was present? Probably. They were not so interested in the fight that they would not take in their surroundings. They were S-class criminals, however. Her presence would not stir any unease into their psyche, even if she had risen to jounin level, trained by one of the legendary Sannin, Tsunade, who just happened to be the Hokage of Konohagakure. She did mask her chakra, though, as a precaution. It was probable, however, that a technique such as that would not work on these elite ninja. _

_She was concerned for Sasuke, borderline terrified. She knew of Itachi's power almost first-hand. He had bedridden Hatake Kakashi for months for Pete's sake. At the level he was now, Sasuke couldn't touch him. Would Sasuke keep fighting, even if he was losing? Of course he would. The whole reason for excelling the way he had as a ninja, the reason for betraying his village, was to take ultimate vengeance for his family, and himself, and kill his brother. That was all Sasuke had lived and breathed for years: revenge. _

_Even if he managed to incompasitate Itachi, the other members would be on him like Jiraiya on naked women...she chose to rephrase that...like Naruto on ramen. But she had heard of the way the Akatsuki regarded teammates. It was like they didn't care. That losing a member was just losing a member. The only annoyance seems to be finding a replacement, evident by having not yet found a replacement for Orochimaru._

_Would Sasuke care if she helped? When it came to Itachi, yes. But the other Akatsuki? She could just picture him saying "Do as you wish."_

_There! A flash of a kunai and Sasuke charged. Swing and a miss for the younger Uchiha. Where had Itachi gone? _

_'Behind you!' Sakura wished to call out to him, but immediately thought better of it. If she had not been noticed yet, she did not want to bring attention to herself. _

_A kick to the back and Sasuke went flying. Itachi moved faster than the normal, non-bloodline limit eye could see. Sakura remembered Naruto mentioning that after his fight with Sasuke, Sasuke was able to see differently. _

_Thinking about that fight, she remembered in order to defeat Naruto, Sasuke had to call upon the power from his curse seal. Her eyes widened as a horrifying realization hit her. Orochimaru was dead: that seal would not be legitamate anymore. What sort of extra umph would Sasuke have up his sleeve? If anything, Orochimaru dying would not do him any good. How would Sasuke win without him? That was the whole reason he turned to Orochimaru. He needed power. _

_She looked down to watch the battle again, but payed not enough mind to her surroundings, when a hand went over her mouth and nose, as well as around her arms and waist. She was caught. By whom? Some member of the Akatsuki she was unable to identify without seeing him._

_Away from the fight, as not to disturb it, her captor brought her down to meet the rest of the elite. _

_"Well, well, well," one snidly began, "What do we have here?"_

_"A konoha kunoichi," another said, gesturing to her forehead protector. _

_"What should we do with her, yeah?" asked the first. Sakura felt him shove her shoulder slightly, making it clear that he didn't want to be stuck with her. Good. She didn't want to be stuck with him either._

_"Let's just keep her here until the battle is over. We do not want want to involve her in with the Uchiha battle," a new one said. Inner-Sakura nodded sagely in agreement. 'Wise choice.'_

_"She got herself involved," the second said, causing Sakura's eyebrow to tick in annoyance. She recognized this to be Kisame, his samehada slung over his shoulder. "I have an idea," he spoke again, raising his Samehada towards her._

_Sakura felt woozy. She was being taken to the fight. Why? She could only guess. Kisame called out to Itachi._

_"Lookie what we found here." Both fighters stopped to look. Itachi glanced over at Sasuke, Sasuke at Sakura, and Sakura look back and forth between the two. _

_Itachi was approaching her, and for some insane reason, Sasuke stay put looking up at Itachi. She was having trouble standing up straight, or even focusing her eyes. The Samehada drained much of her chakra. Quicker than she could react, Itachi had a kunai pressed to her throat. _

_He was doing it to get to Sasuke, she was sure. Itachi would hadn't cared that Sakura was there before. But the fact that it affected Sasuke to his advantage made it high up on his arsenal list. _

_"Matte." Sakura looked from the kunai to Sasuke, not sure if she had heard correctly. He told Itachi to stop? He was going to save her._

_"What? Don't want your brother to kill your girlfriend?" Kisame taunted. Sasuke looked at her with a stony expression and shook his head._

_"Ie. I want to kill her myself."_

_Sakura could not believe her ears. Itachi looked to Sasuke, lowered his weapon, and nodded to Kisame, who release Sakura. Was this a "be my guest" gesture? Sakura stood where she was. Impatiently, she was shoved toward Sasuke by Kisame's sandaled foot on her arse. She stumbled into Sasuke's chest. He seemed unaffected from her weight. She looked up at him. He had gotten taller, pailer, even more handsome that he had beem before. But he also seemed to have grown more cold in his expression, had lost whatever light had been left prior to his departure from their home. There was, for a split second, a flash of conflict in his eyes, but just as quickly it was gone when he sent her reiling with a harsh backhand. _

_To her merrit, Sakura recovered quickly, only mildly stumbling and regaining her footing, this time with a little wider stance for defense, though that would do little in her induced chakra-depleated state. Sasuke appeared in front of her and took a swipe at her face with his kunai. She ducked to get away from his deadly aim, feeling a droplet of nervous sweat disengaging from her brow with her swift movement._

_He kept attacking, and she kept dodging, quickly becoming fatigued with effort. There was no return of attacks from her. He connected again, more forcefully this time, and sent her skidding across the ground. When she finally stopped, she struggled to get up, gritting her teeth as he approached her. She spoke to him, pleading as he came nearer and nearer. _

_"Sasuke! Stop! I don't want to fight you! Why are you doing this?" _

_"You are in my way. You are annoying," he echoed from his youth, coming closer still. _

_"But I didn't involve myself. I'm not-"_

_"Then why are you here?" Sakura didn't have an answer. Well, she did: 'Because I love you.' _

_"You being here is a disadvantage to me," he scowled, "You have no idea what you have given my brother by just simply being here. Not only are you distracting me, you are leverage for him. Do you have any idea what he will do to you?" Actually, she did, but he continued passed his own rhetorical question. "He won't just kill you. He will torture you for days, but really it is just in a blink of an eye." Sakura blinked, her brain trying to find meanings to the words he was saying. Sakura regarded him warily, the words that she was about to ask sounding not right even to herself._

_"Are you saying that you killing me...is an act of mercy?"_ _Sasuke's chidori sparkled in his hand, throwing shadows across his face._

_"Yes." Sakura smiled, and closed her eyes. She felt it. The pain of his chakra tearing through her body, skin, veins, muscle, ligaments, bone, organs, and back out. There was no living through this._

_'Sorry, Naruto. I thought I could release you from your promise. I failed you.' _

_Sakura slumped over him as he withdrew his hand, and Sasuke laid her down on the ground, turning to face his brother._

_Itachi killed him. Simply killed him. He walked over to the pink-haired kunoichi. _

_"What are we going to do with her?" a member asked. Itachi turned to leave, but he stopped._

But most of all, the thing that made me stay was her hand. It wasn't her eyes, it wasn't her hair. It was her hand...grasping my cloak.

Alright! Whaddaya think? i like it i hope you do too...but i won't know unless i get revieeeeeeeeeeeeeeews!

I'm trying to figure out if this should just be a one shot or a ongoing story. i guess it depends on the responses i get...

if i decide to keep it going, the next chappy should be up soon

-Phishy


	2. In Which Deidara Wastes Bandages

**Alright...so i had a plan for the way this chapter was supposed to go...and then it sucked that way...so i switched it around...and added stuff, then took stuff away, but this is the result...and i like it! and i hope you do too!**

**also...i'd like to thank all of my reviewers! you've been fantastic! thank you thank you!**

**disclaimer: okay...these are kind of annoying...i already said i don't own them once...so i don't hink i need to say it again...but i am anyway...oh well**

**on with the show**

Sakura's grip didn't wane. Even with her extensive injury, the gaping hole in her chest, she held on tight. She kept her eyes on him, silently daring him to try to shake her loose and secretly pleading for him not to.

"Itachi, let's go!" she hear one of the Akatsuki call. But Itachi didn't move. He kept looking down at her, no readable expression on his face. His scarlet sharingan blazed into her eyes. She was almost hypnotized by his gaze.

"Itachi!" she heard again. But his gaze never wavered, nor did he acknowledge his teammates. He was debating with himself. He didn't know whether to leave or to take her with him. He had no obligations to this dying woman, and yet, he felt that he did owe her. Not that that was the reason why he stayed. He was Uchiha Itachi, and he felt no remorse for killing, and he certainly didn't take pity or feel compassion for this worshipper of his brother. And yet he stayed.

Slowly, he turned and knelt beside her. She didn't remove her grasp. She didn't know what he was planning on doing. Was he kneeling to finish her off? If he even got anywhere near her wound, if she saw the flash of a kunai, she would die with the knowledge that she would tug on his clothing, effectively stripping him. It was not the pleasure of seeing his body before she died. No, that thought never crossed her mind. She just hoped that his teammates, or at least one, would never let Itachi live down the fact that he had been stripped by a woman that did not intend to sleep with him.

Equally as slow as his original movements, one of his hands went underneath her knees, while the other went just beneath her shoulder blades. Cradled in his arms, Itachi hugged her to his chest and shot upwards into the canopy, the rest of the Akatsuki following close behind without question. Sakura almost snuggled into his stangely comfortable embrace, but she resisted the urge. Itachi was not one of her beloved teammates, or her friend. He was a criminal who just happened to scoop her up and carry her off.

They flew through the trees; Itachi ran fluidly. He ran so smoothly, in fact, that Sakura could neither feel nor hear his feet come into contact with the boughs of the trees.

The group was moving swiftly. To where, Sakura didn't know, nor could she judge from her surroundings. All she could see was black and a small hint of red. Then again, she was staring at his chest. She didn't know where else to look. She didn't want to look up at his face, but she did anyway. His resemblance to Sasuke was alarming. Well actually, Sasuke resembled Itachi. Itachi was brought into the world first. There were a few differences. For one, there was something that made his face seemed more defined, probably due to the little lines that traveled from the corner of his eyes diagonally down to about to the inner edge of his cheek bone. He also had longer hair, and it wasn't the color that Sasuke had. Sasuke's was like a midnight black, and shone almost blue in the light, while Itachi's was more of a smokey black. His eyelashes were much longer that Sasuke's, and his Sharingan always showed. She had to admit, he was one of the most handsome of men she had ever seen, not that she would ever admit that out loud. But she would worry about that later. What Sakura wanted most at that moment was sleep.

Sakura's eyes fluttered open.

"Oh, finally awake?" a mocking voice asked. Sakura looked to her right. There sat a member of the Akatsuki.

'The one that looks like Ino,' inner Sakura remarked, and Sakura reminded her inner self that this was the man that sat on Gaara's chest, certainly not someone she would want to associate in any positive fashion, i.e. with her oldest friend. Sakura _so_ did not want to be in the same room with this guy. Sakura attempted to rise, but was stopped by an incredible pain in her chest.

"Ow," she groaned through clench teeth. The man pocked her in the chest none to gently, resulting in Sakura flumping back down onto the bed.

"I wouldn't sit up just yet, yeah. I just finished changing your dressings." Sakura glared at him, trying to ignore the pain in her chest.

"How long have I been out?" she asked after a reluctant silence, the need for information outweighing her dislike of conversation with Deidara. She felt like she had been hit by a chidori...she winced...yes, that's right...she had.

"A few days, but you would wake up while I was cleaning your wounds, but you never once cried out. You are a tough one, yeah." Sakura snorted, and crossed her arms over her chest.

"If I were so tough, I wouldn't have been captured by your scrawny arms and let that oversized fish suck out all of my chakra," she said harshly. She looked over to the blond next to her and saw an indignant scowl on his face. Sakura felt a teeny twinge of guilt. He had been caring for her injuries, and she was sure that he was the one who suggested that they not show her to Itachi. She could tell by his odd speech pattern which habituated him to end his sentences with "yeah."

The blonde collected his things with a grunt and stood, walking towards the door of the room.

"Wait!" Sakura called, sitting up quickly, but instantly regretting it as pain once again shot through her torso. She bit her tongue in order to keep from yelping in pain, but kept her self sitting.

"Wait, please. Come back. I'm sorry. I didn't mean..." she said, panting slightly with the pain. The blonde fixed her with a level gaze and smirked. He went and sat at her bedside once again.

"I guess I can't blame you. You did receive a gaping hole in your chest thanks to me and my teammates, yeah. It seems that you deserve to insult me, okay?" he said. Sakura offered a weak laugh, not sure how to react to his personality, which was not at all what she had expected.

"Deidara," the blonde said, offering his hand. Sakura took it a shook it, not mentioning to him that she already knew _exactly _who he was. She had, after all, killed his partner.

"Sakura," she answered. Deidara, glanced toward the doorway and shifted his body towards it, releasing Sakura's hand.

"Itachi." Itachi stood in the doorway, backlit by the light coming from behind the doorway until he stepped into Sakura's dark room.

"So you are awake," he said, choosing not to answer Deidara except to send him a nod. Sakura looked at him as if to say 'duh.'

"Hai," she said looking at him. She didn't know what else to say. What do you say to one of the most famous s-class criminals, killer of his whole clan, of Orochimaru, and of Sasuke? He gave her and Deidara a curt nod, and turned to leave.

"It wasn't a mercy killing, was it?" Sakura hadn't even realized she had thought the words before they came spilling from her mouth. His head slowly turned, his eyes finding hers. Sakura nearly gasped at the intensity of Itachi's sharingan as he held her gaze and then continued to leave the room. Suddenly feeling exhausted, Sakura flopped back down onto her pillow with a sigh and shut her eyes. Deidara studied her, her pink tresses falling on the pillow, her breathing long and deep. She was a beautiful kunoichi. It was a shame that he was not a medic nin because she will have a bad scar on her chest, not to mention on her back. He was brought out of his musings by Sakura, who began to slowly sit up.

"Oh, don't sit up, okay? You'll reopen your wound and I spent a good part of my day fixing you up, yeah," he said, trying to stop her. She looked at him with a pained grimace as she used his hand that he put out in attempts to stop her instead as leverage to get her self up straight.

"I really appreciate you treating my wounds while I was resting and just now, but I'm afraid I'm going to have to remove the dressing that you worked so hard on to heal my wound," she said, beginning to unravel the bandages with a grimace until she reached the gauze that covered the hole. Deidara's eyes widened.

"You're a mednin?" he asked. She nodded, removing the gauze and examining the rather ugly looking chasm in her chest.

"Trained by Tsundae-sama herself," she mumbled distractedly, in awe of how even though Sasuke's chidori punctured her thoracic cavity, it didn't hit any major organs, even though it grazed and slightly charred her pericardial sac in which her heart dwelled, but it missed everything else. Sakura would have almost found it comical when she imagined herself being able to stick her hand through her own chest. 'Look, ma! No internal organs!' She missed Deidara's eyes nearly pop out of his head.

"You have been trained by one of the legendary sannin?" he asked in awe. A green chakra leaked from her hands, and she began healing her paricardial sac, examined her internal organs for an injuries that were not visible, and then, after an hour or so healed the hole, not even leaving a scar.

"Wow, yeah," Deidara breathed, drawing closer to her bare chest to look at her handywork when he hear her clear her throat.

"You do realize you are staring at my bare _chest_," she pointed out. Deidara turned red, and he turned away grumbling while she covered herself.

"Sorry, okay?," he apologized. Sakura only barely giggled. She never expected a member of the _Akatsuki_ to be so embarrassed about something like a nude chest.

"S'okay, you probably saw your fair share already over the passed few days, anyway," Sakura realized to her own chagrin. She searched around for her shirt, and she found it, with a huge hole right through the fabric, right through the Haruno clan symbol. She groaned. What in the world was she going to wear?

"Um, Sakura," she turned to see Deidara holding out his Akatsuki cloak to her. She looked at the cloak and then back to him. Wearing an Akatsuki cloak; she wondered what her teammates would think about this. No matter: she would rather wear this than go around a house full of men topless.

"Until we can find you something suitable for you to wear, okay?" he mumbled, the bridge of his nose still slightly pink. She smiled gratefully, taking the cloak and putting it on. Sakura sighed and leaned back onto her bed, feeling the exhuastion of the depletion in her chakra reserves more than usual.

"You can look now," she signaled, buttoning up the cloak to about her collarbone. She looked at Deidara, who now only wore his pants and a mesh shirt. He caught her eye as he noticed the poorly-concealed appreciative look Sakura gave his body and smirked mischeviously.

"Scrawny my ass, yeah."

**Tada, so what do you think? i know there wasn't much interaction between itachi and sakura...in my first plan...he would've been the one to take care of her...but you will see what happened when i update next chapter...**

**there will also be more akatsuki members as well**

**so review (thanks again to my reviewers) and i'll update**


	3. In Which We Discover Leader Is Stunned

here it is...the next chappy. enjoy...please.

Chapter 3: In Which We Discover Leader Is Stunned

Sakura and Deidara sat at the kitchen table, waiting for their tea to heat. Sakura looked about the kitchen and listened, but heard nothing. There was probably no one else in the house besides herself and the blonde seated to her right.

"So, where is..." Sakura began, almost saying Itachi, but instantly correcting herself, "everyone else?"

"Itachi and Kisame went out on a mission a little while ago, and Tobi is…" he pause, "not sure, yeah. But I want to enjoy my peace and quiet for the time being, okay?" he said, with a dismissive flick of the wrist. Sakura's mouth formed a little "o" as she looked about her again, nodding to Deidara as thanks for the answer.

It was your average kitchen, nothing really out of the ordinary. Out of the house she was in, so far she had seen the attic-like room she had been staying in which was atop two, little flights of stairs, the long hallway on the second story, to the main stairs, and the hallway that led to the kitchen. She wondered how big the house was. The kitchen was in the back, Sakura determined. There were large sliding glass doors and the long windows that served as walls all along the wooden porch that ran along the length of the back of the house. The house was more tall than it was long. Out the windows she could see a large meadow, with tall, thin, green grass, then a line of trees. It was mid-autumn now, and even though the sun was shining, it was nippy outside, and Sakura was sure that if she went outside, she would probably be able to see her breath.

Sakura drummed her fingers, seemingly umcomfortable with the silence that ensued after Deidara's answer, so much jumped at the sound of the tea kettle's whistling, putting a hand over her skipping heart.

"Gees," she breathed, kicking herself for being so spastic that she was scared by a meer whistle of a tea kettle, something she heard everyday at least once. Deidara rose from the table with an amused look on his face, heading toward the stove, where he pored the tea into two cups. Sakura's cup was placed in front of her. She looked into it, watching the steam rise from the cup. She held it in her hands, swirling the liquid in the cup, watching the light move across surface of the tea. She always seemed to swirl her tea when she was in deep thought. It brought her back to that day.

_Sakura swirled the tea in her cup out of habit. She sat on her rooftop with Ino, who sipped from her own mug. Sakura drew her blanket closer to her body. The weather was become cooler, signaling the arrive of autumn, and she sure felt it this night. She looked up at the sky, which was clear. There was a new moon in the sky, making the night dark, but the stars bright. Sakura gazed up at the milkyway and sipped her tea. She heard a sigh to her left._

_"I wonder what Sasuke is up to right now," Ino mused with a dreamy, faraway voice. Unbeknownst to Sakura, Ino was trying to laso her into a conversation. She knew that Sakura thought of him often, and she could tell that was probably what was on her mind. After all, she was swirling her tea. She didn't have much to worry about as of late. If she could rule out Sasuke as cause for the deep thinking, than she could figure out what was really bothering Sakura, or she could just be giving her more to worry about._

_Sakura glanced over at her friend. Sasuke? She hadn't thought of Sasuke for a long time. She wasn't sure what Ino was getting at. Sakura was sure that Ino loved someone else, because she would sometimes walk into the flower shop and see her best friend gazing at a flower, sighing sweetly, with a silly smile and slight blush on her face._

_"Do you still _like_ him, Ino?" Sakura asked. She didn't think Ino had gotten all swooney-wooney thinking about him of all people. Sakura remembered that in their old genin days, they would both get that way. But it had been years, and Sasuke had long since betrayed Konoha and joined Orochimaru's ranks._

_"No, I was just thinking..." Ino started._

_"Well don't. I prefer not to think of him. He betrayed his village, his team, he-" Sakura hugged her knees to her chest, "he betrayed me," she finished, whispering the last part._

_"Don't you think you're being a little harsh? I mean, afterall, I could understand the feeling. Having something you want so bad, but it is so out of reach, and then finally,_ finally_ having the opportunity to get what you want." Ino had long thought about the different reasons why Sasuke had left. She knew that he had wanted revenge, but against who, she didn't know. But she did know that whoever it was was a great deal more powerful than he. So Orochimaru, being the nice guy that he is, offered up some power to Sasuke. Trapped in weakness, Sasuke had accepted._

_"There is no excuse in what he did. Why should I care about how harsh I'm being? He certainly didn't care about us," Sakura spat, turning away slightly from her best friend._

_"He cared about _you_," the blonde said. Sakura spun toward her friend, looked at her, and snorted._

_"Well, he did say goodbye to you, didn't he? He didn't say goodbye to anyone else," Ino observed. Sakura's eyes widened. That's right, he did say goodbye to her. He could have just kept walking, but he had disappeared from her vision and reappeared behind her, his smooth voice, low in her ear saying 'Thank you.'_

_But how could she forgive him for leaving the team, for putting them second? A team is family, dysfunctional as they were, and for Naruto and Sasuke, the only family they had. For Sakura, the only family that understood her. Though she had confessed her love and loyalty to her teammate, he never returned the sentiment. She guessed that was why she couldn't forgive him. He would never love her back, nor show her the trust and loyalty she had so openly and easily shown him. Oh well. She had accepted that. So, just this once..._

_"I'll forgive him, just this once," and she sipped her tea._

"It's not poisoned, yeah," she heard a deep voice across from her say. Sakura snapped out of her reverie and gave a small apologetic smile.

"Oh. Gomen, that's not, I didn't think it was. It's a bit of a habit. I was just...thinking," Sakura explained.

"About what," Deidara asked, "or maybe _whom_." Sakura looked up at him, a devilish smile on his handsome features. She rolled her eyes.

'How come everyone always thinks I'm thinking about some_one_?'

"Actually, I was wondering where we are," she said. Deidara sipped his tea, set it down, and looked at Sakura and proceded to say evenly,

"I would tell you, but I would have to kill you, yeah." Sakura paused mid sip to look over the rim of her cup to see the still serious expression Deidara gave her.

'He's gotta be pulling my leg,' she thought, and yet, his expression didn't change. Suddenly, a wicked smile broke on his face. Sakura let her breath that she had been holding and tried to nonchalantly laugh it off.

"You should have seen your face, Sakura. Your eyes were as wide as saucers, yeah," Deidara said giving her a quick wink.

"May I ask you why, Sakura?" Sakura opened to mouth to answer, but was interrupeted when she suddenly felt a chill up her spine, followed by an extreme heat.

She turned. There stood Itachi and Kisame. The chill had been when they opened the sliding glass door, and the heat must of been from Itachi's eyes which were glued to her, or maybe it was Kisame's glare.

"Why?" Kisame's rough voice intervened, "So you can run back to your precious Konoha and tell your whole village where Akatsuki is stationed?" As he spoke, he advanced on Sakura, gripping the handle of his Samehada which was slung over his shoulder.

Sakura took a calm sip of her tea, and looked up at him, giving him a chilling glare of her own. She didn't just earn medicine from her Shishou; she also inherrited her temper and talent for making many a ninja pee their pants with the right look.

A new voice was heard, this time at the opposite end of the kitchen.

"I don't think that's what Sakura meant. She is good, just like Tobi. Tobi is a good boy, and Sakura is a good girl." Sakura turned to see who she assumed to be Tobi standing in the doorway that connected the kitchen to the rest of the house. Kisame looked up to glare at Tobi in annoyance, as if to say, 'Why the hell are you taking her side?' Sakura took this opportunity to speak for her self.

"I wanted to know because I am certain that you do not want me just to hang out here. I eventually need to go home, but thanks for the idea," she said, raising her tea cup in a sort of toast.

"Why you little.." Kisame started, but was stopped when he heard Itachi clear his throat. Kisame took it for what is was: a warning, and let out a chuckle to himself, almost void of any humor, and strode with a long gait passed the table, passed Sasori, and headed upstairs.

"You are not permitted to leave yet," Itachi spoke shortly. He gave a glance at her face, then at the Akatsuki cloak she wore, and then also proceeded to leave the kitchen, heading upstairs. Sakura's temper flared. Who was he to tell her what she could or could not do? Her lips were parted, and she began to raise to her feet, when Deidara caught the sleeve of his cloak she wore and pulled her back down.

"It's not Itachi's fault. Leader has not given us his decision of what he wants us to do with you yet. I think he's a little bit...stunned...for lack of a better word, that Itachi brought you back, yeah," he attempted to explain. Sakura sat back down, her fiery temper brought down to a small simmer.

She complied to sitting down, angrily gulping her tea, trying to hide how stunned leader was as she was reminded that Itachi had brought her to this place.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Okay

so so so so so so so so so so so sorry i've been taking so long. I promise to try to be quicker, but you can't rush some things, also, i had some issues. I had been reading this one itachi/sakura fic, and it got to be a lot like i pictured mine to turn out like...gah

anyway, yeah i hope you like it...if not...i will become an emo kid...


	4. In Which Window Blinds Have No Purpose

Okay, so all of your reviews pretty much made me feel all warm and fuzzy inside I'm glad you guys like it...and i hope you continue to, cause that would be tres fantastique!

OOOOOOOOOOO

Chapter 4: In Which Window Blinds Have No Purpose

Itachi lay on his bed. Closing his eyes, he deactivated his sharingan, allowing his eyes to rest. He knew in his mind he should get to the shower before Kisame used all of the hot water. He was about to doze off when he heard the faint laughter of a certain pink-haired kunoichi who was drinking tea in his kitchen. He was surprised to see her up and about after the injury she had recieved from his idiot brother. Maybe Deidara had carried her downstairs. That wouldn't have surprised him. He was sure that the kunoichi reminded Deidara of someone from his past. That would explain Deidara's sudden bout of kindness. Sometimes he thought that Deidara's inconsistency would be his downfall.

But would his. He never really considered himself an inconsistentperson. So why did he bring that woman here? He just couldn't find a reason, no matter how he searched his mind. He did not believe that there was any logical explanation that existed, or if there was, he would never find it.

His thoughts were interrupted by a knock at his door. His eyes shot open, and his scarlet sharingan blazed into view. He rose a little bit begrudgingly to answer his door. Outside of it was Kisame in a pair of slacks, a mesh shirt, with a towel hanging around his neck.

"Shower's yours," he informed. Itachi looked at the clock. Kisame had been in the shower for over an hour. Itachi merely sent Kisame a glare, and Kisame grinned, shrugging his shoulders.

"Ya snooze, you loose," he said, walking away. Itachi let out a slightly frustrated sigh. He grabbed a towel and headed toward the restroom. He walked down the hall on the second floor leading to the bathroom. As Itachi walked, he heard light footsteps coming up the stairs. Soon a bubblegum coloured head came into view, bobbing slightly as it traveled up the steps. Sakura reached the top of the stairs, and as she traveled toward her next little flight of stairs, she yelled something down the banister to Deidara and Tobi.

'Curious woman.' He watched as she continued to walk down the thin hallway, still not watching where she was going. As she reached the spot where Itachi stood, she turned to face where she was going only to almost collide with the solid form of the Uchiha prodigy. He watched in hidden amusement as she looked up, slightly gasping in surprise. Open with his teammates one moment, subdued in his presence the next: curious _indeed_.

Sakura could not gain control of her tongue. She wanted to talk to Itachi, but she wanted to wait for the right time to...thank him? That just sounded to weird in her head. So instead, she mumbled an apology and rushed past him (a rushed _walk _mind you). Itachi just kept walking. He was slightly tempted to look back at the odd girl, but decided against it, substituting a cold glance down the stairs in place of one over his shoulder.

He turned into the bathroom, closing the door behind him and headed straight for the shower. He turned on the water, dial on hot, setting his towel down next to the shower, undressing and neatly folding his clothes in a pile. He stepped into the shower, only to be greeted with practically solid ice. He growled lightly, stepping out of the freezing water. He threw on his pants, slung his towel over his shoulder, and headed out of the bathroom, deciding whether he would punish Kisame for using all of the hot water before or after he took a bath at the hot springs that were conveniently not far from the house they were in, but were far enough away to be an inconvenience if all you want is a quick, hot shower.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Sakura went to turn the corner up her mini flight of stairs, but taking a moment to look back over her shoulder at Itachi's retreating figure as he continued down the hallway and turned into the bathroom. She still wondered what in the world would bring him to take her to his home, make sure her wounds were taken care of, and basically save her life.

She shook her head. She knew of the Akatsuki, what they stood for, what they wanted, or should she say, collected? Itachi probably just brought her back to bait Naruto, thus the tailed-beast within him. That meant that she needed to either get out of there or find a way to contact her best friend to tell him not to come for her. But first she needed to find some sort of clue to where she was.

She wandered over to the single window of her room. The last bits of the suns golden rays filtered through the worn, dusty shades. Some of the individual plastic pieces were broken in half, some were missing, making Sakura wonder why they were still hanging, for they did not even perform the task that they were meant to. Solution? Take them down.

Standing on her tiptoes, Sakura reached up and pried the suckers off of the window. As a result, dust was scattered in all directions. The combination of that and the sudden burst of light that made it's way through the window pane cause Sakura to sneeze loudly. As she raised her head, sniffling, she looked out her window and quietly gasped.

Out her bedroom window was one of the most magnificent landscapes she had ever seen. The house seemed to be nestled high on a hill, which was surrounded by mountains. There was a valley where she could see hidden a medium-sized village where the inhabitants of the house probably got their food and whatever else they could possibly need. The sun finished setting over the mountains to her left, leaving a minimal amount of light to shine upwards into the sky, the village below and her house now overcome by an immense shadow. Through the village, she could see a large road snaking through it, in one end, out the other, going east and west.

The mountains around her were covered with forest, except for about the last quarter of the mountains, which were covered with serene meadows, much like the one that was situated out the back door. The only difference was that the house she was in and the meadow that was placed behind was much high up than the others.

Well, this was a nice lookout spot. If there was a place to for a conspicuous hideout for a band of criminals, this was the place. She sat on the ledge, watching the sky turn from gold to pink, and finally dark. However, with the awning of the roof blocking her view, Sakura was unable to make out any stars.

So what would a girl naturally do to see the stars?

She opened her window and nimbly climbed onto the roof.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Itachi lounged in the hot spring, the steam from the geo-heated water rising about him, clinging to his skin and hair, making them slightly damp. He breathed in the warm, moist air as it mixed with the cool autumn air. He had been soaking for quite sometime now, trying to keep his thoughts on anything besides the pink-haired kunoichi now residing in the attic bedroom.

To his luck when he glanced for a split second up to the house from his lower elevation, he caught a glimpse of her climbing out her window onto the roof. He was now able to determine that she must have healed her injuries because with the gaping hole in her chest, there was no way that she would be able to stand up straight, let alone climb up on the roof.

With her now in sight, her head tilted back to gaze up at the shimmering stars, Itachi pondered his reasoning for bringing her here once again.

But the only thing he could think about was how he had known that as soon as she had took hold of his cloak, as soon as he had paused his attempt to depart, as soon as he had looked at her shining emerald eyes, that he was...

Itachi closed his eyes in frustration, rising out of the water, wrapping his towel around his waste. He glanced one last time up at the seemingly content kunoichi, able to make out the sparkle of the stars reflecting in her eyes, the darkness of the Akatsuki cloak she still wore offsetting the paleness of her skin, the brightness of her hair. He cursed his Sharingan for being able to see so clearly.

...that he was in trouble.

OOOOOOOOO

okay, so yay there ya go...so what is this going on? a little admiration? resentment? anticipation? i donno. i guess you'll just have to keep reading :cough:andreviewing:cough: to find out

Thanks for reading!

-Phish


	5. In Which Sakura Recieves Some Surprises

Okay, I'm sorry that you had to wait so long (especially since this is a short chappy) i'm sorry

i try i really do! getting ready for college is keeping me pretty busy though!

so here ya go!

Chapter 5: In Which Sakura Recieves Some Surprises

_Sakura let out a weak cough, felt a small trickle of blood leak out of the corner of her mouth, her lips pale with the cold breath of death that lingered about her crippled body. God, what had she done to deserve this? _

_All she had done was go after the boy, the man, she loved. All she had done was believe in him, believe that there was still some good in those coal black eyes, in that immature Sharingan. _

_And now here she was, lying on the hard, unforgiving ground, harsh and rough against her face, which was turned to watch the fight that was unfolding before her. The infamous Uchihas, going head to head in one last battle. Who would come out victorious? _

_Well, Sasuke _had_ just used an enormous, and not to mention unnecessary, amount of chakra to kill her. She mentally crossed her fingers for Sasuke, wishing him luck with another morbid cough._

_She inhaled as deeply as possible, trying to savor the last of her breaths, breathing in the scent of the damp dirt beneath her and the metalic tang of her own blood pool surrounding her. The scent engulfed her, dizzying her, or maybe that was the loss of her blood. Either way, her world was beginning to spin. _

Sakura shot up from her prone position, a hand on her chest in attempt to calm her widly beating heart.

She really disliked reliving her near death experience, especially with the thought of the pain that came with the aftermath. The fact that he died, and she hadn't. That he hadn't tried killed her out of mercy, but out of annoyance, out of anger, out of pure loathing. She hung her head, clinging her knees to her chest, burying her face in her smooth sheets.

She had given up everything for him. She had technically betrayed her village, her Hokage...she had risked it all in the hopes that he still loved her.

But she had been wrong. Sakura Haruno had made a huge mistake. One that she was pretty sure that she couldn't take back. Now she was in the confines of one of the Akatsuki bases, unsure of what to do with herself.

Would she stay with them? That depended on if they asked her or not. Would they kill her? No. That would be yet a bigger waste of bandages, and of tea.

She allowed her eyes to raise, and she gazed out her window, the pale moon illuminating the sky. It was the middle of the night, judging by the moons position in the speckled sky. She slowly rose from her bed and quietly padded out of her room, down her mini-flights of stairs, etc, down to the kitchen.

She needed a glass of water. She opened a few cabinets, finally locating the cups in the cupboard above the sink, making a mental note in her mind to remember which cupboard that was. She filled her little plastic cup with tap water from the sink. She didn't mind tap water. She actually preferred it's taste over the completely purified drinking water. She turned and leaned against the counter. As she raised the cup to her lips, her throat went dry, not due to her emense thirst, but from the sharingan that stood opposite of her in the kitchen doorway.

She had never been in a room alone with Itachi. He didn't particularly scare her...by the light of day. But in the dark of the night, she felt so small. He stood in a black shirt and dark brown pants, much like the ones that he had worn during his Konoha days.

His foot moved forward, the result of his urge to take a step. That foot was soon followed by another. He calmy strode over to her, where she was still leaning out of the need for support, not comfort. She used one hand to help support her, placing in on the sink's edge behind her.

She couldn't help but notice that when he stood before her, his frame seemed to dwarf hers. In the Bingo Book, he was listed at approximately 5 feet, 7 inches talls, but she could obviously deem those statistics false. She was about 5 feet, 4 inches tall, and she only reached his shoulder. Either he had grown or she had shrunk since the last time she had encountered him. She made a memo to herself to inform the editor of the mistake...if she made it out of this place...alive.

Unable to think of anything better to say, she glance up from her cup and asked,

"Thirsty?" She recieved an stoic gaze as an answer. She looked back up at him, then back and forth, slightly uncomfortable under his scarlett eyes. Itachi suddenly moved forward, his body so close that Sakura pressed her own completely against the sink. His eyes never leaving hers, Itachi reached above her into the cupboard. Sakura held her breath. Sakura half expected him to pull out a kunai from the cupboard and stab her. But as he withdrew his hand he held a wide mug. He moved away from her, making his way to the pantry. She watched after him inquisitively. Itachi opened the pantry and pulled out...a cereal box?

Itachi's attack on her nerves was all because he was having a midnight snack attack? Sakura watched as he casually poored the chocolaty looking puffs into the mug, replaced the cereal to it's place, and moved to the fridge. When he opened the refrigerator door, the light from it flooded the kitchen, making a silhouette of Itachi's figure. He left the door open as he poured some milk onto his cereal, replacing it as soon as he was done. Itachi closed the door, and Sakura blinked attempting to get her eyes readjusted to the darkness of the kitchen. When Sakura's eyes had finally finished adjusted, Itachi had appeared before her once again. Sakura held in a gasp of suprise. He reached to her right, opened a drawer, and pulled out a spoon.

As Itachi scooped up cereal into his spoon and into his mouth, Sakura took this opportunity to move around him, trying to act nonchalant, but failing miserably. She raised her cup again and took a small sip of the icy water. She brushed passed him, walking calmly until she reached the stair case where she proceeded to practically run to her room.

When she reached her room, she shut the door behind her and leaned against it.

'Okay, what the hell was that all about?' she asked herself, taking a large gulp of water as she walked to her bed. She sat down on her bed. She sighed. What was she going to do with herself?

Something caught her eye. It was a small pile of clothes. A pair of pants similar to those that Itachi wore and a plain black tee shirt. Well at least she knew that while she was here she wouldn't go naked. She picked up the clothing and the shirt fell open. On the back was the Uchiha family emblem. Sakura's eyes widened a litttle bit as she realized that these must be Itachi's old clothes.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Itachi had no idea what he had been thinking. It seemed to often that he had been giving into his impulses as of late, especially when it came to this woman.

He knew that he hadn't been getting good rest lately. He was in constant pain from his sharingan use, and while the pain lessened upon deactivation, the residual was enough to bring him nights filled with fitfull sleep. In such a light state of rest, he had heard her moving. He had stood in his doorway, watching her decend the stairs and decided to follow.

Itachi had had no idea what he was going to do once he caught up with her. He had watched her in her search for a cup through the cupboards. When she finally turned around to face him, she had frozen. She had probably wondered what he was doing there, and he had wondered the same thing. So, what had he done? He feigned hunger, totally unnecessarily reaching over her into the cupboard, gauging her reaction to him.

She seemed more stunned then scared. He breathed in her scent, as he reached over her, his eyes boring into her jade orbs, and realized it to be of blossoms.

Itachi inwardly started. What in the name of God's good green earth had given him the desire to smell her? He had no idea, and it irked him enough to immediately push away from her and head towards the cupboard. But as he perused the pantry, he found that he was pleased her scent had been pleasant.

He also didn't know why he had left her his old clothes to wear. It didn't really matter what she wore anyway...just so long as it wasn't Deidara's Akatsuki cloak.

so wuja think? well, i can't know unless you...REVIEW!


	6. In Which Sakura Fears Becoming Diabetic

hey this one came quick, non? enjoy

Chapter 6: In Which Sakura Fears Becoming a Diabetic

Sakura woke early the next morning, hoping to be awake before anyone else in the house. She wanted to get a shower in and maybe some early morning training. Just because she was where she was didn't mean that she couldn't at least keep her skills nicely honed.

She padded quietly down the hallway so to not be heard. She didn't know if the Akatsuki were morning people, but she sure didn't want to find out the hard way. She reached the bathroom and realized that she didn't have a towel. She looked under the sink and found a few piles of folded towels. She took one and set it next to the shower and turned the water on. She undressed and folded her clothes in a pile on counter next to the sink. She caught her reflection in the mirror and examined it, mostly her chest, and saw to her pleasure that she had no scar from where Sasuke had attacked her.

_Cha!_ her inner Sakura shouted triumphantly. _Now that's a medic ninja!_

Sakura slid open the shower curtain, felt the water, and found that it was to her liking. She stepped in, letting the warm water pitter-patter over her skin. She turned her back to the flow and leaned her head back, closed her eyes, and let the water wash over her strawberry hair, over her shoulders, and down her lithe form. She let out a content sigh before she pulled her head back up and looked around for some shampoo. She found some mixtures that smelt rather frilly for a household of men, but she didn't complain. She took a small amount and massaged it onto her scalp. She was glad that she finally got a shower because she had started to feel a little disgusting. Inner Sakura also took this moment to remind her Itachi had been close enough to smell them last night, to Sakura's horror, so she scrubbed just a bit harder.

Sakura stood a little longer in the soothing water than she needed to rinse, thinking once again about her situation and coming to the same conclusion: she had no idea what to do.

'I guess I'll just go with the flow,' she thought. She dried off and put on Itachi's clothes. They were pretty big; if she didn't fix it, the shirt would have hung off of one of her shoulders, but somehow the pants fit. She snuck a little sniff at the collar of the shirt.

'Wow, that is a manly smell,' she thought to herself. Then something sitting on the counter caught her eye and she nearly squealed with joy.

TOOTHPASTE! She didn't have a toothbrush, but man, just to be able to put some on your finger and brush your teeth that way was enough for her. She rinsed out her mouth with icy cold water from the sink and grinned at herself in the mirror. Satisfied with her pearly whites, she turned, opened the door, only to meet Kisame.

"Oh," she gasped. Kisame looked down at her, noting her new attire. Kisame smirked. The clothing was Itachi's old wear, and it was a tad bit big for her. He also noted that her hair was still dripping, leaving small drops of water clinging to her exposed collar bone, her cheeks were flushed either from the heat of the bathroom or from embarassment, and did he detect a minty-freshness on her breath?

"Sorry, Kisame," she squeaked. Kisame's smirk widened to show Sakura a few razor-like teeth (which consequently gave Sakura the willies) and stepped to the side to allow Sakura to step through the doorway.

"Sorry, yourself, missy," Kisame replied. Sakura's cheeks flushed deeper and she brushed passed him, briskly making her way down the hall and down the stairs. She slowed when she enterred the kitchen and realized that she was entirely alone. She let out a relieved sigh and wandered over to the pantry. She opened it and nearly fell flat on her butt. They must own every brand of junk cereal that has ever been made. Sakura browsed the names and soon found one that suited her fancy: Choco-cocococo-latelatelatelate-y-y-y-y Puff Cereal.

"Dear Kami," Sakura gasped when she read the label. If this didn't turn her into a diabetic, she didn't know what would. After eating, she headed out the sliding door and noticed that her shoes were next to the door and her weapons pouch sat inside one of her sandals. She slipped on her sandals, strapped on her on weapons pouch to her thigh, and stood at the edge of the patio and took a deep breath of the fresh, clean air.

"HA!" Sakura screamed out as she attacked her opponent, who put their forearms up to block her shin. Her opponent went flying backwards and tumbled along the ground until she came to a stop.

Sakura stood over her opponent, fist cocked, filled with chakra to give the final blow.

"You give?" Sakura asked. Sakura looked up at Sakura and nodded, disappearing into a puff of smoke. Sakura put a hand on her hip, and sighed.

"That was too easy," she said aloud. How to fix that? Simple. More clones. Naruto didn't _own_ kage bunshin no jutsu.

Itachi watched from the roof as Sakura created 5 clones for herself to fight with, the Uchiha clan symbol on the back of the shirt that she wore flashing as she defeated one with ease. One clone ran at Sakura and engaged her in hand-to-hand combat, while another came up behind her, kunai ready to strike. Sakura ducked as the kunai swiped at the air abover her head and dodged a punch from the other clone. Crouching down on one of her haunches, she spun out her leg, catching one of the clones in the knees, then, still spinning, she shifted her weight to her hands and extended her elbows, catching the other clone on the jaw, turning it into a puff of smoke. Sakura flipped back onto her feet, as she reached into her pouch and took out a kunai, meet the swing of yet another clone. While she faught the forth one, the fifth one, who had been on the other side of the clearing, began to charge Sakura.

Itachi took this opportunity to silently jump off the roof, intercept the clone, destroy it and take it's place. As he advanced on Sakura, she destroyed the last clone and turned to meet her final opponent, which she assumed would be her fifth clone, but instead, she was met with a pair of crimson eyes. She momentarily paused, but quickly realized that Itachi was not. She went on the defensive, ducking below one of his punches and blocking a kick. Noting that he hadn't kicked her hard enough to jar her body on impant, she quickly went on the offensive, throwing a kick out at him, which he caught. Her ankle high in the air, Sakura spun the rest of her body up the the height of his chest, bringing around her other foot in attempts to connect with him temple. He quickly, albeit hastily, released her her first ankle in favor of blocking her incoming foot with his wrist. Sakura dropped gracefully to the ground, and she used her momentum to charge at him. She threw a punch, but Itachi effortlessly redirected it, grabbing her wrist, and using her momentum, flipped her over onto her back.

Sakura landed on the ground, coughing a little from her wind being forced out of her by the hard landing. She looked up at Itachi, expecting a "hi", maybe a "how you doin?", maybe even "That was pathetic." Something! But, he just walked away. Sakura sat up and watched him walk back to the house, open the slider, step inside, and shut the door without even glancing back.

She flopped back down onto her back on the grass, suddenly annoyed to find that Itachi and Sasuke shared more traits than just looks, i.e. stony silence.

"Hi," she said to the air.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

yay. done. review pretty please!

i hope you liked it


	7. In Which We Meet Mei Lee

Hello everyone. I am sooooooo sorry for taking so long. I started college, so classes plus all of the water polo is really keeping me busy. But you know...a few reviews would be nice, because I notice some of my cute little readers just put me on their alert lists, but they gimme no reviews...which evidently makes me want to cry.

Anyway...emotional moment is over. Haha. On with the chapter!

Chapter 7: In Which We Meet Mei Lee

Where was Sakura? He had specifically told her to stay put, and what had she done? She went and disobeyed not only his orders, but in turn, she disobeyed the wishes of Leader, who was already not really digging this whole let-this-kunoichi-who-really-hasn't-shown-how-she-can-benefit-us-yet-stay-at-our-SECRET-headquarters plan.

So now here he was, losing his temper, though to the untrained eye, he looked perfectly calm, not even one tense muscle in his jaw, all because of a stupid slip of a girl that he couldn't bring himself to get rid of. Maybe if the other Akatsuki hadn't gotten themselves attached to her, it would have been able to kick her to the curb by now. That was his best excuse so far, the attachment excuse. But back to his main objective, which was to find the kunoichi.

At first, he had thought that she had gone out to train just like she did everyday like the dilligent kunoichi that this Sakura Haruno is, but he soon realized that something was amiss when she did not turn up for lunch, since Kisame had a thing now about habitually, accidentally, making too much food.

A thought crossed Itachi's mind. What if she had just up and left? He didn't picture that happening, but he made his way up to Sakura's attic-like room. He grabbed the doorknob, pausing to knock once politely, and he stepped in without waiting for a response. That's where he found her, sitting on her small bed, writing in a small notepad, a small file open beside her, a picture of some person unknown to himself inside. Her eyebrows were drawn together with consentration, so much in fact, it seemed that she didn't even notice him enter her room. Itachi walked to the edge of her bed, and cleared his throat.

The pen Sakura had in her mouth dropped onto her lap as her head snapped up. Her face was one of suprise. She gave Itachi a small, slightly unsure smile that he did not return.

"Er, hi. What is it?" she asked. His eyes flicked down to the paperwork strewn across her bed.

"You left the grounds." It was a statement, accompanied with a not-so-happy tone.

_Gees. what are you, my mother?, _she thought, inner Sakura's eyebrow ticking in annoyance. Sakura shifted uncomfortably under his unwavering gaze.

"Er...," she began intelligently. Itachi crossed his arms. Sakura changed the way she was seated so that she was facing him.

"Okay, well, you can't expect me to sit in my room all day," she said began complacently.

"You could train. Kami knows you could use it." Sakura's face screwed into a frown and a bit of light color rose to her cheeks, her temper immediately rising.

"I have to do something more than train," she said, her voice raising an octive. "Besides, I should be able to do something in order to earn my keep here."

Kisame strolled down the hallway and heard voices coming from Sakuras room. He could clearly here Sakuras, arguing with, he could only guess, Itachi about the freedoms she had around them. He made a detour up the small flight up steps and slowly opened Sakura's bedroom door. There, Kisame found Sakura standing, her hands pressed down at her sides, clenched into fists, her voice controlled, but the color in her face the absolute opposite. Itachi was standing in front of her, his arms crossed losely, though he still had an air of firmness about him. Itachi made a comment that either enraged or embarassed Sakura. She poked a hand to his chest, opened her mouth to retort, her lungs full of air ready to be most likely shouted out, when Kisame thought it would be best if he intervened.

"What seems to be the problem?" he chortled, and both Sakura and Itachi moved to look at him. Sakura huffed, threw out one of her hips, and crossed her arms.

"I want to get a job at the village's hospital," she all but pouted. The shark man raised an eyebrow as he look to Itachi, whose eyes were hard with annoyance.

"How do you propose to do something like that?" Kisame asked, turning his attention back to the flustered cherry blossom, whose shoulder muscles relaxed slightly as she turned her torso to gaze at her bed.

"I have a file of a missing woman, not a ninja, but a normal citizen from the village below. I figure a few changes to her appearance, a new name, and background, and I should be set with a fake identity I could use."

"And how do you plan to explain your exceptional medical expertise?" Itachi questioned. Sakura turned to him, the fact that he had just complimented her, even if he hadn't meant to, jumbling her thoughts.

"I could explain that I was taught by my mother, or grandmother, who is now deceased, so I won't really have any referrals, but if they allow me to demonstrate my skill, I don't think it will even be a problem," she said confidently. Kisame looked to Itachi, who kept his same calm facade in place.

"It sounds as if she has really thought this through, Itachi," Kisame shrugged, seeing as Sakura was more or less Itachi's captive. Itachi let out a sigh and closed his eyes. He turned from Sakura and began walking out of the room.

"Itachi?" she called out, her voice had died down a few notches, still not used to his name rolling off her tongue. He paused as he passed his partner.

"Do as you wish," he said, not even bothering to turn and face Sakura, whose face was now alight with joy, and then he strode out of her room.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Sakura sat at the kitchen table to next morning, eating breakfast, when she heard Deidara enter the room. She looked up at him as he entered with a smile.

"Morning," she greeted. He turned to return the greeting, but immediately reached for his weapons pouch. Sakura jumped up and put her hands in the air.

"Whoa wait a minute!" she shouted, "Deidara, it's me Sakura!" Deidara paused, a confused look crossed his features, or at least the half she could see, then his eyes narrowed.

"How do I know that you're really Sakura, yeah?" he asked suspiciously. Faster than he could blink, her appearance became normal.

"It's just a henge." Deidara nodded. Sakura had turned herself from delicate blossom to absolute plain Jane. Her jutsu was so good that he couldn't even read her real chakra signal. All that was available to him was this altered (low) chakra signal this dark haired, dark eyed, pale girl in front of him was giving off. There was almost no way to tell that it was her unless she momentarily lifted the jutsu.

"So," she said changing into the dark-haired woman again, standing and twirling to give him a better view of her new self, "What do you think?"

Deidara considered her use of the jutsu. He definitely liked the way she looked naturally, but he couldn't help but admit how thorough and skilled she was with this henge. Instead of saying all of that however, he opted for,

"Good job, but, what do you need that for, hm?" Sakura sat back down and returned to her tea.

"Oh, today is my interview at the hospital," she said. Deidara looked confused.

"So you really wanna help out that bad, huh? " Sakura responded with a nod.

"So, you're going to keep your identity completely secret, though you could let everyone know who you are and go home, yeah?" Sakura's expression dimmed somewhat,

"I can't go back home. I left of my own free will, actually, against the wishes of my mistress. I'm basically a missing nin now."

"You're the hokage's apprentice, right?" Sakura nodded.

"That must mean you're pretty talented, huh? Well, if I were the hokage, I wouldn't just let my apprentice go missing, especially when I spent a butt-load of time teaching her my art, yeah." Sakura had to admit he had a point. The truth was, she didn't really want to go back, not yet anyway. There were too many things in Konohagakure that she felt that she was too weak to handle. She was really surprised with the way she was taking Sasuke's death. Maybe the fact hadn't had time to really sink into her brain matter. Well, one thing was certain was that she wouldn't want to head home and do nothing but cry all of the time. She didn't want to go back to her village and be some useless, mopey kunoichi. The moment that she had clasped Itachi's Akatsuki cloak between her fingers, she had made a conscious decision to not go back, at least not until she was ready to return. She would have to become stronger on her own, become her own person, find her own ninja way.

However, first thing's first: go get a job. That way she wouldn't be so self conscious about eating all their food, not that she had the biggest appetite, but she ate her fair share.

"What did Itachi say about this?" Deidara asked curiously. He saw a little color rise in the plain Jane's cheeks.

"I really could care less about what Itachi thinks," she said, turning up her nose.

"Is that so," came a cool voice from the kitchen entryway. Sakura turned to glare at Itachi, refusing to take back what she said just because he had confronted her about it.

"Yeah, that is so," she said, waiting for his reaction. She had expected him to blow his top at the way that she talked to him, but instead, he shrugged his shoulders nonchalantly and made his way to the fridge. He pulled out a water bottle and took a quick swig from it. It was then that Sakura noticed that Itachi hadn't been wearing his normal Akatsuki cloak, but instead was wearing loose pants and a black shirt. He also had a small sheen on his brow. He had been training. While Sakura had been giving his appearance notice, Itachi made a point to have his back turned to Sakura, though he knew that her eyes were on him.

"Whatever you say," he said walking out of the kitchen. Itachi was long gone before Sakura had a chance to say anything back. Sakura let out a growl, and took the last of her tea into her mouth with one swift gulp and roughly slammed her cup down onto the table. Her flush had become more pronounced now that Itachi had wriled her up.

"I'm out of here," she seemed to be speaking to Deidara, though he couldn't be sure because she hadn't even looked at him. Sakura just continued to glare at the kitchen entryway wear Itachi had just so casually walked out sipping on a water bottle. She grabbed a stack of papers that she had next to her on the table and briskly left the kitchen via the large sliding glass door, leaving Deidara chuckling in his seat at her expense.

Sakura made her way down the tangled hill, and burst out onto the dirt road. She looked down at herself and, using quick motions, brushed herself off and straightened her shirt. When she walked down the street today, Sakura's eyes didn't linger on any of the merchant's stands, nor on any of the restaurants or motels. The only thing her mind was on right now was to get that job. She had made it so that her appearance looked common enough that if she did run into any trouble, or if she ever mysteriously disappeared, the memory of her wouldn't imprint itself on really anybody's mind. She walked into the hospital and she walked up to the reception desk.

"Excuse me," she began to the woman behind it who had just put the phone on her desk down on her reciever. She glanced at Sakura and shoved a clipboard toward her.

"If you're here to get treated, you'll have to sign in for urgent care," she said. Sakura figured she had walk-ins a lot.

"Um, actually, I'm here-" Sakura started but was interrupted.

"If you're here to visit, then you'll have to come back during the designated hours, unless you are immediate family, then you can stay with your loved one for longer," the woman said, twirling her chair to pick up another clip board which she slid in Sakura's direction. Sakura her fingers and gently pushed the clipboards pack towards the woman behind the desk.

"Actually, I was wondering if you could tell me wear the human resources office is."

"Oh, yes," the woman quickly directed her down the hall on her left, turn right at the second hallway, and go through the door at the end of the hallway. Sakura quickly thanked her and trecked down the hallway towards the human resources office. When she reached the door, she quickly composed herself and stepped through the door. The woman behind this desk looked up from her paperwork and sent a smile Sakura's way.

"Can I help you?" she asked politely. Sakura smiled back and walked forward and held out her hand.

"Yes, my name is..." she paused, pretending to clear her throat, but she was really trying to remember her name, "Excuse me, sorry. My name is Mei Lee. I am looking to become employed here." The woman's face brightened. She leaned toward her intercom and said.

"Ichibachi-san, there is a young lady here to see you." She released the button and a woman's voice came through the speaker.

"Send her in," Sakura heard. The woman stood and signaled Sakura to follow her. Sakura was ushered into an office wear another woman, older this time, was waiting to see her. The woman had pale brown hair that was slightly sliver at the temples and fine wrinkles and the corners of her eyes and around her mouth, but besides that, she looked pretty youthful.

Sakura took a moment to readjust her grasp on her resume.

"Good morning, Ichibachi-san. My name is Mei Lee." The woman stood and shook Sakura's hand.

"So you are interested in working here then? Did you happen to bring a resume?" Sakura took the manilla folder from her grasp and handed it to the woman who took it and sat down in her chair. Sakura sat down in one of the two chairs places in front of the Ichibachi's desk as Ichibachi opened the folder and read Sakura, er, Mei's resume.

"You're from what village, Mei-chan?" Ichibachi glancing up from the papers she was examining.

"I am from a small, rural village in the water country. We didn't have a set name, mostly because lots of families were nomads. People came and went a lot, including me." Ichibachi nodded.

"So did you attend a ninja academy there? How is it that you have come across medical training?"

"Not everyone in the village was a ninja. We didn't have an academy. We were mostly civilian except for people who settled there and passed down their training to their children, such as my grandmother did to my mother and my mother did to me. However, I did come across shinobi that had battle wounds, so I was able to get specialized training in battle medicine. That is where I prefer to work." Ichibachi nodded again, continuing to read over Mei's resume.

"Well, Mei, this is an impressive resume. I would love to offer you a job," Sakura smile widely,

"However, since I cannot formally check on your background, I am putting you on a sort of probation. You will not know how long it lasts, nor who will be watching you. Don't get me wrong, it's not that I don't trust you or that you seem to want to decieve me, I'm just taking extra precautions that are required in situations like this."

"Oh, I completely understand, Ichibachi-san," Sakura said. Ichibachi smiled.

"Okay then. I'd like to see you here and oriented as soon as possible. How about tomorrow? Are you available? We have a new training session starting," Ichibachi asked raising an eyebrow. Sakura nodded fervently, causing Ichibachi to chuckle.

"Of course, I'll see you tomorrow then, at, what time would you need me?" Ichibachi leaned forward in her chair, put her elbows on the table as she laced her fingers, and rested her chin on her knuckles.

"Orientation is at 9am, but I'd also like to start you off on night shift. I am short for the battle injuries wing. Shift starts at seven. Make sure are prepared. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have mounds of paperwork that needs to be completed," Ichibachi said, sending a inconspicuous clue in Sakura's direction.

"Of course, don't let me be a hindrance. Thank you, Ichibachi-san," Sakura said with a polite bow.

"You're quite welcome, Mei-chan."

Yay, all done. Now, be wonderful people and leave me reviews cause you love me... I love you, I'll respond to you, you know I will


	8. In Which Sakura Finds It Hard To Swallow

Stepping out of the hospital as Mei, Sakura took a full breath and grinned. Things were beginning to work out for her afterall. Even though she was technically being held captive, she was given free reign around the town.

Well almost free reign. It wasn't until she was on the dirt road the lead to the thicket, when she heard a voice next to her.

"Mei-chan, fancy meeting you here, huh?" Sakura glanced all too unsurprised at Deidara grinning down at her.

"Cut the crap, Deidara. I _know_ that you have been following me around all day. I'm not stupid, you know," she said crossing her arms as he fell into step with her. The corner of Deidara's lip twitched showing his amusement of her sour mood. He knew she was good, but he didn't expect her to be able to sense his _hidden_ chakra signal.

Sakura never took well to being thought of as weak, for she had been for quite some time, a jounin. She figured her little scene in the forest with Sasuke would have given off the impression of weakness, such was always assumed of the kunoichi of Team Seven. Those who knew her from Team Kakashi knew better. She was a force to be reckoned with, and she refused to let them forget that, damn it! Perhaps, though, she should try to be as nondescript as possible while being in this town. No need to draw even _more _trouble her way. Dealing with four Akatsuki was putting her on edge as it was.

Sakura quickly changed directions and disappeared into the thicket, Deidara not far behind her trudging figure.

"It is completely necessary to follow me around all the time? I don't need to be babysat. I'm a big girl. I can handle myself," she remarked, not hiding the annoyance in her voice.

"It was leader's idea, okay? I just happened to be the one chosen for the job since Itachi and Kisame are on a mission. We wouldn't want you to go to town and announce to everyone that you are being held captive by the Akatsuki and that you know where our base is."

"Don't you make appearances in town anyway?"

"Of course we do, yeah. The villagers just don't know where we come from exactly. This isn't a big ninja village. Not a lot of people are willing to go snoop around in the business in the Akatsuki, yeah."

"So, what would happen if I tattled?"

"We would kill you." Well, that was blunt.

"What if I shouted it in the market surrounded by innocent people?"

"We would kill all of them too," Sakura gave him an incredulous look. "What? Secrecy is a big part of the Akatsuki, okay? You can't expect us to let people get away with hearing about where we are stationed." Sakura shook her head in disbelief.

"I just can't believe you would kill all those people."

"Some of those people, no matter how innocent and bystander they look, could be hunting for us. You forget that, yeah." Though Sakura _did_ understand what he was getting at, the medic nin inside of her and Inner-Sakura both expressed a general distaste for his reasoning.

"You forget that _I_ could be one of those people who has it out for you. Maybe that was my plan all along, and Sasuke just happened to play into it." Deidara let out a bark of a laugh as they made it to the house and ascended the two steps onto the porch. He stopped at the door and turned to her, his resting hand on the handle.

"I know you think that you're better than I think you are, but you have no idea who you're dealing with, okay? Just sit tight and don't cause any trouble like a good girl, yeah." Sakura frowned and opened her mouth to retort but was successfully ignored by Deidara as he walked through the door, and the screen shut with a slam. Sakura growled audibly before descending the steps. She had no idea where to go where she could be alone. No doubt if she started to get too far away from the house, they would send someone after her to make sure she didn't run.

Deciding her room was better than any other place, she jumped up onto the bit of roof that was underneath her window and climbed in through it. Letting her henge fall, Sakura flopped onto her bed. She damn well hoped that she hadn't been seen with Deidara. If the town's folk were fearful of the Akatsuki, associating with them was sure to have a negative effect on how the villagers would see her, or see Mei at least.

Sakura turned on her stomach, and looked out of her window into the now setting sun. With a frustrated sigh, she drifted to sleep

For the next two weeks, Sakura became used to her routine. Wake up, shower, eat (usually alone, everyone seemed to disappear until her shift was over), put on her henge no jutsu, go to the hospital, walk home (usually met by a member of Akatsuki once she reached the main road), get home, eat again, training alone, and go to sleep, repeating the whole thing over again.

Working at the hospital was a plus. She had been right in assuming that she wouldn't be given money for food or clothes. If she needed anything from the other dwellers of the house, they only gave her the bare minimum: a little food to hold her down. They weren't sparing any expenses seeing as their precious Leader hadn't given them instructions with exactly she was to be dealt with yet. She also still wore hand-me-down clothes, seeing as she had yet to receive her first hospital paycheck. Luckily Ichibachi-san had realized her predicament and had set up a pay advance. Putting a henge on the clothes was easy enough, but she was becoming increasingly tired of the too-large clothes.

What she wasn't used to was what she did with her days off. The first week and a half was spent trying to get used to her new shift. After all, she did work nights, so she didn't actually wake up in the morning anymore. She usually woke up in the middle of the afternoon, though sometimes Sakura awoke in the early mornings, unable to fall to be sleep.

This morning happened to be one of those mornings. Sakura stared up at the dingy ceiling of her attic room. The sun had risen, and she knew she was the last one to wake up, but while she couldn't get to sleep, her body was dog tired. After what Sakura suspected to be twenty more minutes of nothing but breathing, no sleeping to be had, Sakura kicked off her covers with a growl.

Yanking open the bottom drawer of the decrepit dresser, Sakura pulled out one of her very few articles of clothing, her OWN shirt. Though she had swiped a surgical needle and some suture thread from hospital, looking at the shirt, Sakura realized there was no salvaging to be made with just a needle and thread. She needed all new material. Might as well make her self a new shirt. Sakura kicked the drawer shut, and, deciding that she might as well put some tea on for herself, headed out of her room.

Once she reached the kitchen, she found no one there, but there _was_ a kettle already on the stove. Sakura hoped whoever put it on anticipated more than one person. Sakura, in the meantime, laid her head on her arms, hoping to maybe be able to doze for at least five minutes.

"You are awake early, Sakura," a deep voice intoned. Sakura bolted up right, coming eye to eye with the crimson fire of the Sharingan. She watched the three tomoe spiral almost hypnotically. Only after a few minutes when she heard the whistle of the kettle and was snapped out of her reverie, did she realized that she had been staring. Sakura flushed with embarrassment.

"I couldn't get to sleep," she mumbled, looking down at her shirt on the table. Itachi silently rose and poured then both a cup of tea. Sakura took her teeth and began ripping her shirt in shreds for medical bandages to put into her supplies. Itachi sat next to Sakura, waiting until she was done with her ripping to hand her her cup of tea.

BOOM! Sakura yelped and mishandled her cup, spilling it's scalding contents right onto the hand and forearm of the elder Uchiha. Without thinking about what she was doing or whom she was touching, Sakura grabbed Itachi by the elbow and hurried him to the sink, where she ran his arm under cool water, soothing the burn he received.

"I am so sorry, Itachi," Sakura said as she turned off the water and gently patted his skin dry with a dishtowel. Even though the burn wasn't that bad since she had acted quickly, Sakura's hands moved over Itachi's skin, a cool, healing chakra leaking out into him. As Sakura, felt Itachi relax, or as close to relaxed as you can get when you are perpetually unyielding, she let out a sigh of relief.

"What the heck was that?" she asked, referring to the war-like explosion.

"Deidara and Kisame are sparring," he said, gazing out the large paned window. Sparring? Sakura could only imagine what it would be. Another boom sounded, shaking the house, causing Sakura, who had finished healing the minimal damage to Itachi, to growl.

"Lucky I wasn't handling white hot tea, this time," she muttered through clenched teeth. "Why aren't you out there with them?"

"Like I said, you need some more training. I decided to wait until you woke up." Sakura nearly choked on her own spit. He was waiting for her? So she could train with him? Sakura gulped, her throat suddenly dry.

"What?" she squeaked.

"I do not wish to repeat myself. If you are done with breakfast, go get your equipment and some more," he looked at her oversized shirt, "suitable clothes." Sakura frowned at him, her temper instantly flaming.

"This is all I have!" Itachi turned from her and headed up the stairs without a word. In his absence, Sakura turned her attention to what was going on out the sliding glass door,

If Sakura's eyesight and hearing were good enough to zoom through the trees, she would have been aware miles away in the forest a dog howled at the discovery of a familiar scent. He sprinted off, and four figures followed. The team weaved through the trees, until they reached a small clearing, where the canine halted abrubtly. He circled the ground where a rusty stain was present, barked, then whined, unsure of what his discovery meant. Kiba approached.

"Sakura was here alright. Akamaru, search the surrounding area," Kiba ordered as he knelt down to examine the ground. "I can't be sure of what happened here," he directed towards his teammates.

"She was hit over there, flew this distance, landed, then rolled to this spot, where she bled," Kakashi stated, keeping the emotion out of his voice to hide how plainly disturbed he was by what he had discovered. He bent down as well, and then looked at his blonde teammate with one obsidian eye, "The amount of blood would suggest that her wounds are fatal."

"Are you telling me Sakura is dead?" Kakashi stood, the bags under his eyes making him look all the more defeated that he felt. "It is certainly looking that way, Naruto."

"Well where is she then? If she is dead wouldn't she be here? Who killed her?" Naruto cried, clenching his fists as his side, unable to accept the fact that he not only lost one of his best friends, but now two. Kakashi opened his mouth to answer but was interrupted when Kiba called to them from a few yards away where he was analyzing tracks.

"Sasuke was here, looks like he fought someone. This is his blood. Whoever it was meant business." He turned to Kakashi.

"Sasuke?" Naruto whispered.

"Yes," Kiba answered. "These tracks suggest that he's wounded, but alive. He retreated in that direction. Do you think it was Sakura he clashed with?" Kakashi searched the ground, and found three spots. He knew exactly what those spots were, and he knew exactly whom they belonged to.

"No. There are no characteristics here that would suggest that Sakura fought. The ground is relatively undisturbed, and there are no signs of damage made by her chakra…These are drop of Sakura's blood. She was carried away."

"So maybe she's alive? We have to find her! And Sasuke too!" Naruto exclaimed.

"Sakura is our first priority. This is a mission to aid Sakura. We cannot divert to go after Sasuke," Kakashi reminded firmly.

"Kakashi you know me better than anyone, and I need to go after Sasuke while I have the chance! Does he not matter anymore? We need to go after him while we still-"

"Sakura is first priority. She may be dying and waiting for our help. I will not put the capture of Sasuke before the rescue of Sakura during this mission." Kakashi shot a glare at Naruto, who's pain was evident in his eyes. Kakashi pinched the bridge of his nose as if to relieve a headache.

"Kiba, tail Sasuke. Follow his scent, report back to us with his position. Do not engage." Kiba nodded, and sent a bark of an order to Akamaru who took off.

"Understood," he said to Kakashi, while sending Naruto a sympathetic look before disappearing into the forest. Naruto just stared at the ground hands with his hands clenched at his side.

"Let's move out, Naruto. We don't have time to waste. Let it go. Sasuke made his choice. Sakura needs you now."

"_Ichibachi speaking." I greeted spinning in my chair to answer the dull wring of the office phone. An authoritative female voice met my ears. _

"_Konohagakure? I must say this is a surprise. How can I help you mistress—" I was cut off by the woman who claimed to be the Hokage. For all I know this could be a practical joke, but she _sounded _like the real deal. As I listened to her proposal, however, I became skeptical. Leaning forward in my chair as my mood became more intense, I questioned her._

"_So you're claiming to be sending me an undercover ninja. You want me to give this person a job. How am I to know who he or she is when they arrive? How could you ensure—" I was cut off again. Something I found annoying, and also something I didn't have to deal with much being the head honcho at my hospital. Another proposal traveled into the earpiece of my phone. My eyes widened. That is a large sum of money; of which could greatly improve the state of our facility. I breathed in sharply, smelling the hospital cafeteria food as well as my lit candle, an attempt to flood out the sterile hospital smell that infected the rest of the offices. I let out the breath in a heaving sigh. _

_What was I to do? If I acquiesced, I could possibly be putting my patients and staff in danger. As far as we knew, this ninja could not only be extremely hostile, but they could lure ninja battles and more violence into a village that didn't need any more of that, especially with the Akatsuki lurking nearby. However, if I refused, I risked the whole village be hounded by a much larger, much more powerful ninja village. Using my most threatening voice I could muster without being insulting, I agreed to the Hokage's offer._

"_Okay. I will accept your ninja into my staff, but you best know that if your people step out of line in anyway and put this hospital in danger, I will no longer cooperate, and you will have to move your operation elsewhere." I was met with assurance on the other line, saying that the ninja was very skilled, would work hard, and also be discreet while on their mission._

"_Very good then. I will expect your operative her by the date you set. We will be in touch." Affirmation from my new associate and the line went blank. I place with receiver down with a plastic click, and returned to my paperwork, seeing as my food had long grown cold due to the drawn out conversation. This ninja, whoever they were, better be worth my while._

"I need blood! WHERE is my blood?" Sakura yelled out urgently, glancing over the heads of her scurrying coworkers, while pressing dressings to a civilian's chest wound. "He's bleeding through, I need help with pressure. You get over here!" Sakura put the dressings into the wound, sending a spark of chakra no one would notice, listening to the shrill flatline sound turn into a struggling beep as his bp returned to a more steady state. Wiping her brow with the top of her shoulder has to not get blood from her forearm onto her face, she directed some of the nurses to take the current patient, a man who had somehow got on the wrong end of a fight with a barstool, into the ICU. She looked at the clock and groaned. Though her night had been busy in the hospital, time was somehow dragging.

It was hard getting used to only fixing every other ailment that came into the hospital. As a kunoichi, Sakura was proficient in the use of chakra to heal patients, but being guised as a civilian doctor was harder than she thought. Though she had been trained in the use of civilian surgical techniques, she was rustier than she had previously estimated. A few hours in the skill lab had brought her muscle memory pack up to par, and soon she was stitching sutures like a champion. This is didn't take away from the fact that some people she just could not save, not without risking revealing her identity to those around her. Taking the death of a patient had always been a hard thing for Sakura, a perfectionist at heart, and also a gifted medicnin, to deal with. Couple that with even remedial cases of people coming in with very treatable conditions (in the ninja world), but Sakura being able to do nothing more than diagnose and write a prescription on her little prescription pad was driving Sakura into a ditch.

What had been a godsend was performing surgery. Having dexterous hands, Sakura was happy to get back to helping people in a way that yielded more results than sitting in the Emergency Room at night. Most of the surgeries were during the day. If she showed up early enough, she was able to get on the surgery board thanks to the lack of help at this particular hospital. The village, as quaint as it was, was not the most prosperous. It was because of this that many hotshot civilian surgeons didn't waste their time in it. Basically, the staff was happy to have her, and Ichibachi was very pleased with her intuition of hiring Sakura…er, Mei.

Sakura stripped off her gloves, pressing the biohazard waste bin foot petal, opening the lid with a faint whoosh, alternating her foot to step on the washbasin petal to scrub off any foreign bodies she may have acquired. The water was cool on her skin, wetting her up to her elbows while she scrubbed away the microscopic germs.

"Mei?" Sakura took a look over her shoulder to the E.R. secretary behind the desk, an older woman in plain blue scrubs, but with the eye shadow to match. Sakura yanked a paper towel from the dispenser, smoothing it over her hands and upper arms.

"Call for you. I will transfer it over to you," meaning the phone closest to Sakura at the nurses station. Mei nodded, her brown eyes crinkling in thanks as she leaned over and took the receiver off the hook.

"This is Mei Lee," she informed her caller, sinking down into a wheeled chair situated in front of the rarely used hospital radio. Such a small trauma center seldom got transfers from other hospitals, and the radio was mainly used when they needed to outsend patients who needed care that they could not provide.

"Mei, hello. This is Ichibachi. I have your pay ready for you when your shift is over. I will be leaving it at the front desk, since I am heading home," Ichibachi's voice crackled into the receiver. That worked out perfectly. Sakura hadn't yet gone on her lunch break, but since it was slow, she figured she could kill two birds with one stone since the front desk Ichibachi was speaking of was just a little ways down the hall from the cafeteria.

"Thank you very nice Ichibachi-san. Thank you for going out of your way like this."

"No trouble at all, Mei. You have in such a short time begun to turn out hospital around. It's the least I could do." Mei's thin lips raised into a smile, happy that she was able to make some sort of progress, even as a mousy civilian. Ending her conversation, with her superior, she walked briskly to the badge swiper and signed out, letting the secretary know she was headed to lunch. She stopped by the front desk first, greeted and given the envelope she was expecting, pleased that it had taken a very minimal amount of time to pick up her paycheck, giving her ample time to sit in the doctor's lounge to eat her food.

In the cafeteria she grabbed her tray and looked at the assortment of edibles laid out before her, trying to figure out what would pique her taste buds and give enough energy to allow her to end her shift without being extremely exhausted. She chose some a mochi ball, nice and filling, a ham sandwich, for some protein, an apple for sugar, and a sweet tea for some natural caffeine. Pleased with her lunch, she grabbed a brown paper bag from the little cart that had creamers, coffee, butter and the like on it, and bagged up her food.

Reaching the lounge door, she pinned in the code to unlock the door, swinging it open to meet a pair of crimson eyes, making her stop dead in her tracks. She almost dropped her lunch, feeling adrenaline rush down to her toes, and she swallowed hard. Itachi's eyes flickered to her pail throat, instantly and unconsciously memorizing the movement. Snapping out of her shock, she glanced behind her before she hurriedly moved into the room, shutting the door. She leaned against it, dropping her henge and looking at him apprehensively, then hissed in a low voice.

"What the hell are you doing here? If anyone were to see you, do you understand what huge trouble—?"

"No one will remember seeing me." He blinked, not out of necessity, but as an emphasis to his words. Sakura then understood, leaving the door and walking around Itachi, feeling the small hairs on the back of her neck stand on end as his eyes followed her. She had her back to him, a position she wasn't entirely comfortable with, but assumed now as a show of indifference, one that she was sure was transparent.

Unrolling the thick brown paper of her lunch bag, she reached in pulled out her mochi ball, and bit into it. She took a large bite, using it as an excuse to think while Itachi continued to pin him down with his bloodline stare. Sakura swallowed with difficulty, the combination of the sticky rice and the sudden dryness in her mouth, giving rise to such a result.

"You didn't answer my question," Sakura vocalized bravely, before swiftly finishing her mochi aided by gulping down her sweet tea as fast as her bendy straw would allow. Itachi looked at her again, not answering Sakura's vague statement.

"What are you doing here?" she repeated, searching for a napkin, in her bag, and finding none. Itachi was silent once more, opting to instead observe her teeth scrape the pad of her thumb in attempts to clear them of her sticky rice residue. Sakura stared at him expectantly, but after a few moments conceded to his silence and continued with her meal. She only had a few more minutes before she had to sign back in to continue her shift. As she bit into her apple, she spied Itachi twirling a 10-blade skillfully between his fingers, obviously not concerned with how sharp of an instrument it was. Sakura was mesmerized only until she felt the juices from the apple dribble from the corner of her mouth down to her chin.

She hastily wiped her face, and another crisp bite from her apple before slipping her arm into the sleeve of the one piece of clothing she didn't have to henge: her doctor's coat, which she had left in the lounge, she realized absently. She stood, ignoring her better judgment and swiped the blade away from Itachi, mumbling something about hospital property and her need to get back to work. She stuffed the blade into her side pocket, leaving herself a mental note to have it run through the autoclave and returned it to the surgical wings upstairs. Sakura, trying her hardest to ignore the red irises that followed her as she bagged her remaining lunch items, focusing only on the sound the muted soft paper bag made as Sakura folded it in on itself. As Sakura brusquely moved past Itachi to exit the room, he grasped her elbow stopping her altogether, movement and thought. Sakura experienced what felt like an electric shock move through her arm and she unconsciously tried to pull away, resulting in his grip tightening to an almost vice-like intensity. Itachi moved closer to her, his mouth hovering just next to her ear.

"Do not dawdle on your way back today. We must discuss Leader's decision." Though she was physically frozen in place, Inner Sakura snorted. Like there was much to discuss. From what she assumed, what Leader said was done, and she wouldn't have any choice in the matter.

**Hey everybody! Wow, I am a HORRIBLE author. I am so sorry for making you guys wait this long for an update, but my life I feel has been more hectic than it should be for someone my age. Thank you for sticking with me this long. Thank you to those who have reviewed, you helped remind me that I needed to update! I have the next chapter planned out for the most part in my head so hopefully I should be able to get it started on thur night or fri. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed the chapter. Let me know what you think with a review s'il vous plait :) Constructive criticism welcomed, and let me know if I missed a grammar or spelling mistake (prob my biggest pet peeve while reading a story).**

**Peace- Phish **


	9. In Which Art is Created

**Hello all. I must make huge apologies to you. I don't want to make excuses for my tardiness, but here's what happened! I had a beautifully written chapter for you all: got erased. Then a bunch of crappy stuff happened over the summer and I just couldn't bring myself to rewrite it. I hope you all enjoy and I appreciated you giving my story your time to read :) I dedicate this chapter to my kitty Jax, who has been missing for a month. I miss you, and I hope you are happy and safe.**

_Sakura stared down at the red seal. She had received scrolls of this nature before. However, every time seemed like the first time the weathered scroll paper was placed in her palm by her superior: a mix of anticipation, worry, determination, and, above all other things, duty. A ninja's body is a tool, a rule that she was reminded of often, had been drilled into her head as a young academy student in the midst of her girl's only classes, ranging from the flower arranging classes where she first met her best friend, Ino, until the secretive classes that were not known outside of the kunoichi's who passed down their skills to the younger generation._

_Looking back, Sakura was happy to have received her first red seal scroll in tandem with Ino. She remembered the calm, heavy gaze Tsunade had given them as she slid the scrolls to them on her desk. The silence had been thick; thankfully no ticking clock was present. The only sound that broken the silence was the soft snuffling of a piggy snout, making Sakura's hand jolt out, suddenly in a rush to take the scroll from the old, wooden surface. Ino slowly followed her lead. Scroll in hand, Sakura glanced to her right where Ino stood, as pail as Sakura felt, staring at the one scroll that would forever change the nature of their jobs, as well as the dynamic of their friendship. Though they had been training together for a few months in the hospital together, it was hard not to become even closer after the success of the mission, which, not surprisingly, had made them feel crumbier than a failure. Sixteen was the legal age of a ninja, and soon the rest of their female friends, classmates they could only recall by face or skill, joined their ranks. It wasn't long until their male teammates became wise to their missions, and mixed feelings showed all around. Some acted as if nothing had changed, which was refreshing for the girls, and for Sakura, Sai was that person. Nothing could make him act any different; having a lack of emotions certainly helped. Kakashi also acted as if he didn't affect him, but she saw the change in his dark eye when he regarded her on her return from her second red scroll mission, her first solo, also a success. Sakura had never failed, putting all of her years of hard work and training into these missions. This, above all else, Tsunade had said, was the reason Sakura was chosen for this mission. Tsunade said, though Sakura had a hunch that this was all a fib, that it had nothing to do with the _people _involved. She merely stated with Sakura's track record, skill as a medical ninja, and ability to grasp the sensitivity of the situation, put her in top position for the high-ranking, dangerous mission._

"_Your skill as a medical ninja especially," Tsunade began, answering another unvoiced question Sakura had, "will be of great importance to you. In order to successfully infiltrate this organization, the under cover identity in the village requires your knowledge of rudimentary civilian skills. Also, you will, as I am sure you know, find yourself in risky situations that will be potentially harmful to your physical wellbeing. I must be able to count of your healing abilities for that in the off chance of extreme injury, I will not be losing another ninja, as well as my best student."_

_The briefing was kept impersonal, something Sakura understood. Emotions were not something that one could afford to deal with on a mission of this nature._

"_You understand, as well, that you may intercept Sasuke on this mission. Your orders are to stick with the mission. You may engage Sasuke if it is not detrimental to your main goal. You must always remember, however, that he is not your target, even though an encounter is possible. Because of this, I must keep you under complete silence. This mission will be of total confidentiality to all, excluding you and myself. You will function, in this case, as a missing nin. Do not worry about the village council, they are aware as well. Under no circumstances are you to tell Naruto especially, above all others. You can predict, I imagine, the immense damage that would be caused if he followed and intervened. The whole point of the mission would cease to exist. This will be the toughest mission you have ever had. It may well be the most difficult you ever receive. It will require you to improvise, think on your feet, and use your instincts. I am counting on your for the success of this mission." Sakura, not one to buckle under pressure, gave a nod of understanding and spoke with a hardness in her voice that Tsunade knew meant that Sakura understood the gravity and importance of this solo mission._

"_Hai, shishio." Naruto, similar to Lee, was one of those teammates that Sakura was happy to keep oblivious to the inner working of the kunoichi lifestyle. He was one of those teammates that she could tell would not be able to meet her eye after such a discovery of body utilization._

_Under the cover of darkness, Sakura launched herself silently from rooftop to rooftop, her foot never once disturbing a shingle, nor the inhabitants of the rooms below, until the reached the village wall. She was to slip past their village's own defenses, using the one gap of opportunity she had when the ANBU guards switched their posts at the eastern most wall. Pausing near the sentry, veiled by the mottled moonlight shadows cast by the leaves and braches of trees, Sakura took a moment to become human and roll her eyes._

'_I should have one received of those ANBU tattoos for even thinking about accepting this mission.' Of course, female ANBU were a rare breed, something Sakura, however, was predicted to excel towards and reach. Sakura, though, had no intention of doing any such thing. An undertaking like that would indefinitely lure her away from the hospital, where her true calling, helping people, was. Instead, Sakura would much rather continue helping brainstorm a system that would utilize what little medic nins they had in the field in the best way possible. Besides, she could still receive the training an ANBU would go through if she just asked Kakashi._

_There! Sakura moved swiftly passed the sentry guards on the forest floor, barely kicking up any pre-mature autumn leaves that had fallen with the aid of late-September winds._

Blue eyes stared listlessly into a crackling fire. Naruto had gained bags under his eyes from nights of little or restless sleep. Whenever he closed his eyes, all he could see was blood. Sakura's blood, Sasuke's blood, his _family's_ blood. A twig snapped on the edge of camp and Naruto's head shot up to witness two figures blur into their campsite as his hand dove into his pouch on his leg in retrieval of a weapon. Recognizing Ino and Sai, Naruto quickly relaxed his arm, lower his weapon back into the pouch. Sai spoke before Naruto had the chance even open his mouth.

"We have an urgent scroll from the Hokage for Kakashi regarding your mission." Hoping for good news of Sakura's location or well being and knowing he was unable to force the mission scroll from his odd teammate, Naruto roused Kakashi from his light sleep. Only when Kakashi held out his ungloved hand to Sai did the artist produce the scroll.

As Kakashi read the mission details, he let no expressions play across his face. Naruto could only wait patiently, or as patiently as Naruto could, with as much fidgeting as any human could physically manage. He caught Ino's eye as she stood next to him, and the questions were written clearly in her sapphire eyes. She surprised Naruto by leaning towards him with the intent to whisper her inquiries as to information on Sakura when Kakashi snapped the rolled paper shut.

"No need to ask Ino. I will be fully briefing you on the condition of our mission, as well as all we know of Sakura's activities over the last few weeks as we continue pursuit tomorrow morning at dawn. I suggest you settle down for what little rest you can. We leave at dawn. I will take watch for the next few hours. Sai you will take the next shift." Ino and Sai both nodded and reached behind them to sling their packs forward onto the ground to retrieve their gear. Kakashi then turned to Naruto, left eye closed while the other bore into him.

"Naruto. You are to report back to the village. You will depart at dawn." Naruto stepped forward in shock with his hands fisted at his sides.

"Kakashi-sensei! I can't go back when we are so close to finding Sakura! She is counting on me. You better believe I will not abandon her when she needs us the most!" Kakashi's dark eye was hard.

"You led me to believe, Naruto, that the Hokage gave you express permission to accompany Kiba and myself on this tracking mission. This scroll says you deliberately disobeyed orders. You know the teams Tsunade assembles for missions are for the good of the village. You could have put this mission into great jeopardy." Naruto calmed slightly, but the passion he had burned in his eyes and made his voice tremble.

"Sakura is one of my precious people, Kakashi-sensei. You should know, above all people, sensei, how important the precious are to me."

"There are complications, Naruto, which ban you from continuing this mission with us." Kakashi approached Naruto, and placed a hand on his shoulder. This time, his lone black eye showed all the worry he held for Sakura, the pain, and apology offered to Naruto for denying him the request to simply help those he cared about. "I am sorry."

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Sakura knew she was being watched, and she was trying her hardest not to smile. She was putting to use her best acting skills to look forlorn and helpless, at a loss because she was going to be her best friend's down fall, the reason for his death…as if.

The meeting with Pein went exceptionally well. Besides the initial nervousness of him not taking the bait, once she began, she reeled him in nicely. Sakura was actually surprised by herself. She was normally not a manipulative person, but from only thinking of the goal, she was able to pull off a great performance, filled with vehement seething, passion, and denial.

What had surprised Sakura was the amount of detachment that Pein had to all emotion. Even with her pleading and crying, he had merely blinked (or so she thought from his astral projection). She had expected an amount of smugness, maybe even maniacal laughter, seeing as he was the insane, in her opinion, leader of a criminal organization hell bent on seeing her homeland crumble and fall. Almost every criminal mastermind she had ever been involved in stopping, or had studied, had some sort of god-like complex to them, and she suspected that somewhere deep in those swirly (creepy) eyes that he had one as well. Their exchange, however, had been mostly her yelling, while he remained mostly calm and aloof towards her, though polite to his followers, as she recalled. Sakura felt, though, she gained a bit of luck with his personality. Sometimes the masters behind these operations were so obsessed with watching everything play out, that it left a ninja very little room to breath, sneak around, and basically get their job done. Sakura was convinced that Pein only saw her in a pawn in the grand scheme of things, not the "missing" or "essential piece" that she had been referred to in the past when playing into a lunatic's plan. Pein was putting her under the watchful eye of those living in the house, big surprise.

When Sakura was dismissed, she stormed up to her room, eyes glossy and cheeks red and tear-streaked. She glanced behind her to Itachi before completely running away. Sakura knew that his sharingan would pick up every detail of her face, and she hoped if she could fool his all-seeing eyes, then she could convince the rest of them. After holding his gaze for what she felt was as long as necessary, Sakura's head spun, rosy hair fanning out behind her, and she fled up the stairs. Slamming her door in a convincing I'm-not-going-to-let-you-control-me attitude, Sakura stepped into her room in full adrenaline rush. What a thrill! She could look at it with some objectivity and realize why psychopaths who control their victims' minds get hooked so easily. Sakura put her ear to the door and could only barely make out muffled sounds of the remaining Akatsuki, those who resided in the house, discussing what she could only guess was their MO.

Grinning, she quickly wiped the remaining tears that clung to her eyelashes and scooted quickly over to the rickety old dresser, where a felled, cracked old ceramic vase lay dusty and forgotten. A quick release of a henge and a scroll was revealed, and Sakura jumped onto the squeaky, half-broken bed and began to relay all that had just occurred, not missing a single detail. She needed to contact Tsunade to tell her the mission was on track. As she sealed the scroll in a pouch, and henge'd it in its former purple-y ceramic appearance, she quickly bit her thumb and pressed it to the floor. A small poof appeared in front of her, which quickly gave way to a grey tabby cat, small and stocky. His green eyes flicked up to Sakura and he began purring like a motor.

"Sh! Jax! I am happy to see you too, but someone will be up any minute if they have any real brains," she said in a hushed tone, reaching affectionately though to scratch behind his ears.

"Sorry, Sakura-chan. Who's coming?" he asked, flicking his kinked tail up with interest.

"Never mind that," she said, "I need you to take this as quickly as you can to Tsunade, got it? I'm gonna pretend to run away. The minute everyone is out of the house with their attention on me, I will release the henge, then you can grab it. Got it?" Sakura barely finished relaying her instructions when she heard a knock at her door, and, without waiting for permission to enter, Deidara slipped into the room. A thrown old vase rocketing towards his head, which successfully distracted him enough that he didn't notice Jax skittering under the bed, immediately met him. Sakura sprinted to the window and flung it open, yelling to the stunned, and now slight pissed, yeah, blonde standing standing between the doorjam.

"You can't keep me here! I won't be apart of this farce to capture _my _friend." The mauve vase rolled from where it had landed in a half circle to bump against Deidara's sandaled foot. Deidara spluttered after her, although expecting her rage, not really expecting her to _throw_ shit at him or leap out the window…like she was doing now.

"Oi! There's no need to be a pain in the ass, yeah! Get back in here!" he squaked after her crossing the room faster than she expected. He grabbed Sakura by her collar and yanked her backward from the window frame.

"Henh…!" Sakura let out a loud strangled gasp as her shirt pulled against her windpipe. Sakura's heel of her sandal caught the corner of the window frame, sending her shoulders first into the ground. In attempt to catch her balance and prevent herself from falling, Sakura flung out her arms. She caught hold of the front of Deidara's coat, causing him to stumble forward, thankfully not landing on top of her. Sakura fought to quickly catch her breath and release her sandal from the window ledge. With a quick yank it was free, and she turned on Deidara twisting his wrist so that his grip loosened. The teeth of his hand, however, still had a firm grip, even if his fingers didn't. A small rip was heard, and Sakura was free of his hand, a small tear the collar of her shirt. Deidara shot another hand out to grasp her ankle, but her other foot caught his jaw before his hand had time to connect. Sakura hopped out the window again, glad in the back of her mind that the she had caught site of the vase kicked back into her room from Deidara kicking it as he rushed in. She headed for the trees, thinking in all honesty she would probably make it all of 100 meters before someone was on her tail, and she hoped that someone wasn't chucking chakra infused bombs at her.

Deidara stood at the window and saw Sakura sprint into the woods, accompanied by what he thought were some words akin to "screw you". As she disappeared behind the tree line, his eyes panned towards the grassy area nearest the house, where he saw Tobi standing blankly on the grass, only to turn and point in the direction in which the young kunoichi fled.

"Hey! Sempai! Sakura is running away. Do you think we should bring her back?" his muffled voice hollered from behind his mask. Deidara ran past Tobi in a blur.

"What the hell do you think, moron, hm?" She wasn't very far ahead of him, but he would have to work hard to catch up. Deidara would probably be able to catch Sakura before Tobi alerted Itachi and Kisame, which was good, cause he technically let her get away, so he would be the one to get into trouble. However, she picked a thick section of the forest to run through, so riding a clay bird was not an option.

'Tracking my own chakra won't be a problem, yeah,' Deidara thought with an arrogant smugness when he assumed that Sakura didn't realize that after grabbing her collar, his hand-mouth had left saliva on her shirt. What he _didn't_ know was that Sakura _was_ aware of this, but kept the shirt on her person for that purpose, of she would have thrown it off as she exited the property. She had to maintain the persona of the weak ninja, the captive, and she couldn't do that if she actually escaped. She just hoped that Jax had made it out of the house and was on his way safely to Konoha.

After a few minutes fleeing at a steady pace, Sakura heard a boom sound behind her. She chuckled as she realized that Deidara had encountered the exploding tags she took the liberty in leaving behind.

'He'd appreciate those,' she thought with an evil grin. It wasn't long afterwards that she heard him closing in behind her. A small cluster of pellet like projectiles whizzed passed her shoulder and stuck to a tree in front of her. Thinking quickly, instead of continuing forward onto the next branch, she propelled herself downwards and to the side to avoid the chorus of explosions that would have, even though not Deidara's usual size, caused her an unneeded injury. Sakura escaped most of the splinters raining down from the blast, and she used the shower behind her to launch a few shuriken behind her with a quick twirl and sweep of the arm.

Deidara flexed his jaw and hurried to change pace with her, noting that she was faster than he had previously thought. Not only that, but if he hadn't ducked down at the right time, her shuriken would have found a lethal mark. Another note to make: perfect aim with little to no visibility. Great. There! She changed directions with a slight fumble, and with an extra push, he was a step behind her. No explosives now, unless he wanted to be blown to bits with her, which was a huge disadvantage to him being a long range fighter.

'Damn it. I don't want to have to get into a dumb-ass fist fight with this chick, yeah.' As he closed in on her, making Sakura feel cornered and ready to turn and make contact, a kunai came speeding from in front of them. Sakura yelped in surprise and ducked, while Deidara swore and redirected the weapon with a kunai of his own grabbed quickly out of his back weapon's pouch. Deidara and Sakura halted. Forgetting about his own pursuit, Deidara motioned to Sakura for silence, recognizing and reading the situation he had been in many times: an ambush from hunter-nin.

Immediately, a team of ninja fell down from the treetops above them, three splitting Sakura and Deidara. Deidara had four more on his right, while only one more ganged up on Sakura, noting her small, less than imposing stature. Immediately recognizing Deidara's cloak, the largest of them stepped forward with a large ax-like weapon that was as tall as his body, which was unrealistically double the size of Deidara's.

"A lone Akatsuki, out in the woods with his lady-friend," he taunted, putting a large palm on the blunt wooden top of his weapon above the blade. Deidara casually stuck his hands underneath his cloak as if he was putting hands in his pockets.

"We should get quite the reward for this guy," another laughed behind him. A chorus of shouts rose in agreement.

"Not only that," the large man smirked, "it'll teach 'im to stick with the Akatsuki buddies instead of chasing after tail in the woods." His eyes shot over to Sakura, and he gave a dismissive shrug.

"Though why he would chase after that scrawny bitch…" Sakura immediately felt rage warm her cheeks and she reached behind her to the pocket of her medic pouch to pull out her gloves. One of the smaller bandits, with a nasally voice and light lavender hair, laughed high and gratingly.

"Oh boss," he said in a sing song voice, "I think you hurt her feelings." Sakura's eyes flashed in irritation as she noted which one of these ninja she was going to attack first. She gladly noted none of them were wearing forehead protectors loyal to any village, which told her they were a measly gang of thugs. She flexed her fist, enjoying the feeling of the leather tightening across her knuckles.

Deidara angled his body in front of the small kunoichi. As if he could afford to go back to the house jinchuuriki bait-less, yeah. He turned his head slightly, glancing back at her with his right eye, as his left occupied his scope.  
"Oi, have we ever discussed our opinions on art?" Sakura regarded him warily, maybe even more so than the enemy nin slowly encroaching upon her personal space.

"No, I don't recall you ever mentioning…that," Sakura answered, shaking her head indicating a negative, feeling slightly annoyed that her partner in this battle was being entirely ambiguous.

"Well, I should tell you that I think art is…a BANG!" A small explosion sounded on Sakura's left. Her head whipped around to reveal to her the sight of a body of one of their attackers slumping to the ground…with half an imploded skull. Sakura glimpsed a chunks of purple hair matted to flapping pieces of scalp, and turned glanced at Deidara who had a fat smirk plastered on his face. Oh shit. With eyebrows lifted, Sakura turned her green gaze to the large thug whose lackey just had half of his head blown off. It is a well known battle tactic to use your opponents emotions against them. Emotions make a human irrational, especially anger, and with irrationality comes mistakes. A mistake is exactly what you want your opponent to make, especially if you're overpowered or outmatched.

"That was a mistake, blondie…" the giant warned with his exceptionally large teeth gritted together. Deidara barked a laugh.

"The mistake was actually made by you, ugly." Sakura watched a hairless eyebrow twitch. In the periphery of her vision, movement caught her attention. A small white moth fluttered down from the low branches of the trees. Absently, a plain looking brown haired ninja swatted at it as floated in and out of his line of site. Sakura discreetly widened her focus and discovered that there were many floating white bodies in the air strategically, fluttering drunkenly towards their opponents. "And _that_ mistake was fucking with me." A symphony of timed blasts went off, and with it, complimentary thuds of bodies sinking to the forest floor. A startled scream from one of their opponents as the small clay moth clung to the skin on his hand as he flung it about, and slowly made it's way up his arm.

"Stop, please! Don't blow me up!" he pleaded franctically, having watched his comrade's brains fly in all directions after coming in contact with the insects. Sakura watched as Deidara's grin turned positively evil while the moth steadily crawled higher. The man's shouts grew louder as he swated at the small clay figurine on his arm. He landed a hit on the moth as he brushed his opposite hand down his arm, and a small, yet effective explosion left him without a hand up to his elbow. The man gawked at his massacred flesh and let out a final choked cry before his knees gave way to a faint.

"You piece of shit!" roared the large leader swinging his axe towards Deidara, who danced out of the way, while Sakura flitted to the branches encountering enemy nin along the way. A punch of average strength dislocated the jaw of one of her attackers, while she simultaneously ruthlessly sinking a kunai into the solar plexus of another, ignoring hot breath as he grunted in pain into her ear when she heaved him over her shoulder to throw his limp body at yet another opponent. They crashed to the ground, taking branches and leaves with them, allowing Sakura to glance at her partner. Deidara was not a close range fighter for sure, and it showed in his fighting style, which was, at the moment, simply to evade. He landed a blow or two on the bohemath of a man, but didn't seem to be slowing him down at all.

"I am going to have your head!" The giant grasped his large weapon with both hands, one beneath the large blade and one on a piece of metal half way down, in front of his barrel chest. With a heavy flex of his muscles, he slid the metal cylinder rapidly along the length of the weapon until it reached the blade, where a spark formed and his whole weapon was engulfed in crackling electricity. He raised above his head with a mighty heave and aimed for Deidara. As he swung, Sakura felt the hum of static fill the air around them, raising lose strands of her hair. Sakura sprang into action, rocketing herself towards the forest floor. As she decended, the swing once again missed contact with Deidara, but the Akatsuki artist was not expecting a jolt electricity, like lightning splitting a sky, to come streaking towards him.

Time seemed to slow down as Sakura finally reached the ground in front of Deidara. As much good as it would do to get one member of Akatsuki dead and out of the way, there is no way she could finish this battle herself. Sakura was going to have to fight for her life. Sending a chakra charge fist into the forest floor, she cracked open the earth, raising in front of her a wave of destruction. Large chunks of earth intercepted the electricty, acting as insulation and neutralizing the attack, defending the unlikely pair of comrades while attacking their opponent with rumble and dust, not to mention causing a crater that opened beneath his feet. Before her opponent could gain his footing, Sakura pushed herself to feet and flashed stepped, appearing behind him as a blur. She drew back a fist, infusing chakra, ready to deal a death blow. She knocked him solidly as he spun away from the flying rubble, and he recoiled with the force of her punch, but she didn't feel his bones snap, or muscles even bruise. He absorbed her blow, her chakra rippling through his body visibly beneath his skin.

Shock froze Sakura as furious eyes turned solely to her and her only.

._brilliant_. He had never seen something so artistic, except for his own art of course, than the explosion she created with her _fist_. That was pure beauty; the fact that she could reduce the earth to rubble with her chakra was _fucking_ awesome, yeah.

All he was able to think as she fell in front was him was 'damn it.' Really? Running away had been stupid of her to begin with. Now she planned to fucking kill herself, and then Pein was going to kill _him_! But then her small, deceivingly delicate hand connected with the ground and BAM!: pure, _explosive_ art. Another flair of her chakra and she was gone. Deidara tracked her until she flitted into existence behind sasquatch and gave him what he guessed was a walloping punch. What happened next made Deidara's eyes widened, and he unconciously zoomed his scope to watch as the giant's body absorb a blow that should have killed him. His skin rippled, body bounced back, and he used his momentum to take a swing at his new favorite kunoichi.

Sakura quickly backtracked out of the giant's range of motion, watching as his elbow fully extend, and therefor expecting it to cease movement towards her. She blinked in alarm as the large hand that she could only compare to a meat cleaver kept moving forward, the arm thinning slightly at the elbow. Caught offgaurd, Sakura put her forearms in front of her head to block the oncoming attack. The strength of a man that big did well in rocketing her petite body backwards, thankfully not into any tree trunks. Because Sakura had seen the blow coming, she was able to use her newfound velocity to invert her body so he could catch herself on her feet. Sakura was now on the full defensive, while her opponent, who, luckily, had lost his weapon due to her first attack, came at her with swinging tree trunk arms. Sneaking a fast glance to Deidara, Sakura pleaded in her own head.

'Please let him destroy that weapon.' Sakura turn her attention back to her opponent, moving lithely to land a kick on his patella, which would have cracked any other man's bone, but Sakura felt the strange sensation of a stretchy indenture, followed by her foot being forced back in the opposite and equal direction. She heard a crack, which she could decipher to be wood. She risked a look to her left where Deidara had brutally splintered the wood using another man's skull.

Off balance, she took a swing to the gut by a sweep of the giants arms and felt the snapping of her own ribs.

"How do you like that bloodline, girlie? How else do you think I could handle pure current without being electricuted?" He stalked towards her, but stopped his monologue as a small blast sounded at his exposed shoulder. Sakura with a doctor's trained eye as the burned that resulted didn't take on the presentation of those she had seen from similar wounds. Instead of charring down to the muscle, pealing of skin and an all around nasty wound, this monster's skin wrinkled and shrunk slightly, seeming to loose elasticity as he moved. He made a perturbed grunt, turning to the canopy to search for Deidara.

"I'm not up there, yeah." Sakura felt in her ear. Deidara knelt beside her, guaging the giants movement, speaking lowly in her ear, and regarding the way she clutched her left side, seeping a small amount of chakra into it, most likely setting the bone, but not fully healing it. Deidara took the opportunity to grab her and jump to the canopy. Once safely on a branch, Sakura made her observations known to Deidara.

"His body definitely is made out of something weird," she mumbled. She twisted her torso, testing what range of motion her small repair had given her.

"Most likely whatever bloodline limit he was talking about, yeah." Deidara agreed with a nod of his blonde head. Sakura's eyes widened with a realization.

"Do you think his chakra is influencing the composition of the rest of his body on, say, a molecular level? Instead of cells damaging the way they normally would, his chakra makes the membrane even MORE of a mosaic than it already is, that way, all blows are absorbed." Deidara took a beat to consider what she was suggesting.

"You mean like rubber?" Sakura's face pulled into an enlightened grin.

"Exactly like rubber! That's why he wasn't electrocuted by his own weapon, he absorbs the conduction." Deidara stood and reached into one pouch hip, and began to mold clay with a thoughtful look on his face.

"So normal attacks won't work on him. Your explosions definitely damage the surface of his skin, but we should find a way to be lethal without risking our own safety in the process." Deidara grunted an affirmative as Sakura felt through her medic belt. Her hand landed on a dark bottle, and she pulled it out, grinning at the thought of its light sensitive contents.

"I think I've got an idea."

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

After losing the stupid blonde one in the trees, the giant made mental tabs on his gang, all of whom were either dead or unconcious on the forest floor. In the back of him mind he was beginning to regret enganging this guy, but in the forefront of his mind, rage took hold of any and all other thought processes, all of which screamed at him "FLIGHT! NOT FIGHT!" And now, this son-of-a-bitch was hiding from him somewhere up in the damned trees. He could get up there, sure, but those scrawny sons of bitches were lighter than he was. They would have an advantage of freedom of movement in the canopy.

A twig snapped behind him and he turned in time to watch as the pink bitch poured some sort of liquid on him. Right behind him he could see the blonde ninja on her heels. His focus quickly turned his broad chest, which, at that moment, had a burning, tightening sensation of the skin beneath his soaked shirt. He growled in pain, quickly using his frying pan sized hand to rip off the fabric saturated with the liquid. His hand which had come into contact with the liquid began to sting. Looking at his chest he watched as his own skin lost elasticity, tightening until it shrank until he could feel it tearing. Too distracted, he forgot to focus on the second of his two opponents.

Deidara had already taken the time to mold his projectiles into, instead of animals, sharp, senbon like projectiles, with small barbs on the end to stick firmly into the giant's skin. Once the giant idiot ripped off his shirt, it gave him the perfect target for the most weak areas of his skin, which, hopefully, had layers of flesh that were just as damaged as those that had been affected on the surface. Forceful, close range throws embedded the claybons, as his new rose-haired teammate had dubbed them, deep enough to that they could not be removed and, hopefully, down to the bone, as they had planned.

Deidara quickly glanced to his side to look for the signal from Sakura that she was ready for the next element of their attack. She locked her gaze with his and a small nod, followed by a quick look by him to her hand to see it covered in white.

"Kai!" a gutteral roar of pain followed the release of his explosive creations. A gaping, bleeding wound was now ready for Sakura's surgical hand. She sprinted, closing the gap between her the and giant. The ogre's eyes widened in pain and he spluttered a cough, sprinkling blood onto Sakura's face as she dove her fist into his chest. She braced herself against his chest with her other hand and dug her heals into the forest floor as she yanked backwards. A fleshy tear reached Deidara's ears as Sakura's hand withdrew from the giant's chest, sizzling heart in hand. The giant, no longer a threat, fell backward, eyes still open in shock and pain, jaw locked open.

Sakura took a deep breath, slowing her racing heart before looking down at the one in her hand, still reacting to the hydrogen peroxide that saturated the gauze she covered her hand with. She promptly let the large organ fall to the ground, turning to Deidara who had approached her. Deidara was regarding her in a new light. With dirt from the skirmish, hair slightly askew and blood running down her arm to drip off her elbow, she looked like a fierce, ruthless warrior, not one of those ninny leaf nin that he had encountered in the past.

"Let's go, yeah. I'd like to get you back to that house before any more stupid shit happens that could get me in trouble, okay?" Deidara said as he crossed his arms in a casual manner as he regarded her. Sakura sent him a look.

"What makes you think I'm going back with you. I ran out here to get AWAY from you." Deidara grinned widely.

"Well cause after a fight like that you are probably tired, more than a little disoriented, and in no shape to go on the run. If you really wanted to get away, it would be in your best interest to do so when you're fully rested. Especially since I'm sure the other guys would be hot on your trail if you left now, yeah." Sakura crinkled her nose at his logic. He was right, and she knew it, but she didn't want to accept it.

Deidara couldn't believe what he saw as the rose haired leaf nin quickly dropped into an offensive stance before her hand dove into her weapons pounch and launched a kunai at him. Instead of hitting him, it really didn't even come anywhere close enough to make him think of dodging, it flew past him. Deidara turned to follow the line of flight of the weapon. The man who's hand he had blown off had been RIGHT behind him with his own weapon drawn, seemingly ready to stab him in the back. Now he was laying on the floor, kunai handle visible between his eyes.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

A figure lurking behind a tree watched as Deidara inflated a large clay bird and the two climbed aboard, leaving behind them the corpses of their opponents. The wolves would smell the blood soon enough, and the other scavengers, the vultures and the crows, would follow closely behind to gorge on any scraps left.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Once aboard a giant clay bird Deidara had constructed, they flew lazily back toward the house. While Deidara had put on the facade that he was rushing her, was in no mood to reach the house again. He _was,_ however, in the mood for some answers. He regarded the pinkette sitting across from him, using a small amount of water from her pack to rinse most of the blood off of her arms. What he had seen when she first came into contact with them a few weeks back, the whole debaucle with Sasuke, framed her as weak, in the body and the mind; it framed her a silly girl who was too infatuated, too concerned with boys to being a serious kunoichi, which had gotten her _way_ in over her head to the point where the man she claimed to love almost killed her.

Though he saw glimpses of what could have been talent from her in the short time she had been with them, for instance, her healing herself, as well as putting on a henge that fooled even him, he never would have guessed that she was what he actually saw today. What he had witnessed today was a dangerously efficient killer, who holds strength and intelligence that none of the Akatsuki had even thought to comprehend her capable of. But why? Why underestimate her, even though she is technically the enemy. Could it be that she wanted them to perceive her that way? Was the helpless, airheaded girl facade all an act? Could he necessarily put it past her? It would be the perfect infiltration move, one that would knock them on their asses, yeah.

No, there was no way. She was too smart to let someone blow a goddamned whole through her chest on the offchance that she wouldn't die right away, or that Itachi would have carted her back to the house, yeah. And no Hokage of any kind would give such orders to her subordinate, to her _apprentice _no less. Perhaps the whole thing with the Uchiha's younger brother was a fluke. Or maybe that was the dynamic those two shared? He probably wouldn't just guess the answer. He would have to get her to slip up and tell him something.

And if she was trying to infiltrate them? What would he do then? Would he expose her, or just let her work at whatever cracks she could find? He never wanted to join this damn organization to begin with; might as well let her destroy it if she could, yeah. And if she gets caught, pretend he was none the wiser.

"You know I won't tell anyone, yeah," he called over to her. Her narrowed green eyes flicked to him suspiciously. "You know, that you're not weak. I see what you're trying to do." Colour flushed to her face and she looked down, eyebrows knitted together with a sour look. Instead of answering him, she took to roughly shoving her equipment into her apron, and they fell into silence once more. Deidara shrugged and turned his gaze to the direction they were headed. It was understandable for her to be upset. She had an undercover mission, and she had blown it. Granted, if she hadn't shown her true capabilities in their skirmish, she probably would have died, but failure was never something he took to easily either. She could also maybe be regretting killing the armless wonder. Deidara was the only one that knew about her abilities. The medic nin would have no problem getting through the rest of her mission if the only one who could blow her cover was dead. But she didn't let him die. Now _that_ was typical leaf nin. Saving the life of an enemy.

On the opposite side of the bird, Sakura fumed. Not only had she revealed her abilites to a very dangerous man, but this man was also an enemy to her village. Over the last few weeks, living in a what could be relatively normal home minus the maniacs inside of it, she almost easily forgot how much of a psychopath her blonde companion really is. At home, he seems relatively harmless with a naughty sense of humor that reminded her of the bad boy that most girls would typically fall for: good looking and mischevious.

However, remembering the look on his face in response to the shouted pleas of their opponents, the wickedness that put a gleam in his eye and pulled a smile onto his face made the hair on the back of her neck stand on end. Sakura turned her gaze unconciously towards Deidara. What was he playing at. Was he really not going to tell any of the Akatsuki? Why? And at what price?

"I don't understand. Why would you do that?" Unable to stand the questions rolling around in her brain, she mumbled it so softly he almost didn't hear it over the whistle of the wind.

"Well, if you _are_ trying to break the foundation of the Akatsuki, I would help you in any way I can. I never wanted to be a part of this crap anyway, okay?" A thin pink eyebrow raised.

"And what would you get out of that?" For a moment, when Sakura looked at Deidara, he looked faraway, as if he wasn't on a giant clay bird discussing mutiny with an enemy kunoichi, but someplace else.

'Probably on the back on this giant bird,' Sakura thought with an inward snort. Noticing her blonde companion was not answering her, Sakura leaned over and waved a petite hand in front of his face. He started and fell back onto his hand, the other flying up to his scope, which, Sakura realized comically, was still zoomed, focused on their destination.

"Sorry," she giggled as he gave her a sour look knowing that the source of her amusement was his encounter with dozens of her pores. Deidara huffed through his nose.

"I'm tired of taking orders and doing crap that I don't want to do, okay?"

"Then why become a ninja? Our whole life is taking orders." Sakura said, thinking with chagrin that it was BECAUSE of orders that she was in this position in the first place.

"As a kid, was THAT what was on your mind when you thought about becoming a ninja, hm? No. What I really want is to be able to experience a higher level of art, and I cannot be a true artist when my creativity is controlled by another, hn." Sakura nodded her understanding and fell silent, not sure of what to say next. She had no way of guaranteeing his trust, but he could easily blow her cover if he wanted. What would be the point of stringing her along under the pretense of aiding her.

"So you would rather become a rogue nin again? Wouldn't there be safety in numbers?" Deidara shrugged his shoulders.

"I was doing just fine on my own before the Akatsuki caught wind of me. It's easier to disappear as one person. That, and you only have to worry about your own crap, yeah."

"You don't want to worry about having a teammate's back to watch, so you're going to do that for an enemy nin. That makes total sense," Sakura deadpanned looking up towards the sky. A chuckle reached her ears. Slate blue met bottle green, and Deidara grinned widely and genuinely.

"Means to an end, you'll have to do." Sakura rolled her eyes, breaking their eye contact. "That is, if what you're doing will work."

Sakura turned to Deidara, all mirth gone from her eyes. "Oh believe me, it'll work."

_The click-click of two pairs of women's boot heels could be heard traveling swiftly through the hallway, and a barked order echoed off of the laminate floor._

_"Keep up, girl." All those that the pair encountered pulled their clipboards close to their chests and pressed their bodies to the walls to avoid be run over._

_"Hai, shishou." Haruno Sakura answered breathlessly, quickening her stride to keep up with her Hokage. Tsunade pushed through a door leading to a small room with a large basin sink which she approached, placing her foot on the petal beneath. As water streamed through the faucet head, the busty blonde let water fall over her arms. Her petal haired companion followed suit, using a scrub brush to attack her skin with betadine._

_"Haruno, what can you tell me of the pituitary and the hormones it secretes." Without hesitation and with the memory of a practiced medical student, Sakura quickly answered her mentor as she formed her mask to her nose._

_"The pituitary is a small endocrine gland located in the brain connected with hypothalamus. The adenohypophysis secretes a number of hormones, which include FSH, LSH, ACTH, TSH, prolactin, and HGH. The neurohypophysis secretes antideuretic hormone and oxytocin."_

_"Very good," Tsunade nodded, heading through another door into the OR, where she was met by a scrub nurse who held out an open glove for her. "Tell me about an important instance in which oxytocin is involved."_

_"Oxytocin," Sakura repeated. "Is important for uterine contractions during labour. It is known to be released during breastfeeding. Women feel the 'Letting down' of milk. Oxytocin is release into the mother and into the breast milk, where the infant ingests it. This creates a pair response between during mother and child." She approached their patient, having been gloved herself, noting him prepped and ready. Tsunade's honeyed eyes peered at her over her mask._

_"And another situation in which oxytocin is release that causes a pair reponse?" She prompted._

_"During orgasm, oxytocin is released, creating a drive for monogomy and pair bonding." Her green eyes drifted to Tsunade's hands, which had begun to glow with probing for the overgrowth of cells, a tumor, plaguing the very gland they spoke of._

_"And do you suppose, Haruno, that this paired response could be used as an advantage to a kunoichi?" Sakura's eyes found Tsunade's again, her own breath feeling too hot, too thick behind the mask which she now wore as a precaution in case they needed to open their patient if chakra failed. She felt constricted behind the barrier, her hands itching to rip it off to get well needed oxygen, but instead, she calmly replied._

_"Yes, shishou." It wasn't a week later that she recieved her first red scroll._


	10. In Which Masks are Laid Aside

Landing in property that surrounded their house, Sakura and Deidara dismounted from the large bird, an airy pop following their departure. They entered the house through the sliding glass door, Sakura putting on her best show of loathing her blonde companion for her "recapture" while Deidara gripped her elbow tightly, making as if he were leading her into the kitchen. However, after a quick scanning of the house, the pair realized they were alone, and the anger of Sakura's face deflated and Deidara's hand dropped.

Deidara started heading up the stairs. "I think because I chased your ass around today, I deserve the shower, hn." Sakura's annoyance was real this time.

"Hey, _I'm _the one covered in blood! I want to wash this crap off!"

"So go use the hotspings; they're not far," Deidara's voice echoed from the hall upstairs. Sakura gritted her teeth. Sure they weren't far, but it was dusk, and she certainly didn't have night vision like her contracted feline teammates, not that she was aware of anyway. What she wouldn't give for some sort of bloodline limit in her eyes for that purpose. Her thoughts drifted to Jax, hoping he made it to the Hokage by now with her message that things were going to plan and to try to hold off any searching/rescue/hunting parties they would send after her as a missing nin as long as humanly possible. As she traveled to the second floor of the house, she could clearly hear the shower running, and when she glanced at the door, steam was already seeping out from the crack between the bottom of the door and the floorboards. Well so much for the possibility of usurping the shower from her blonde cohort, as well as gathering her shampoo and conditioner from the shower where she kept it.

'I wonder if I have some standard issue soap in my room.' Sakura strode into her room, dropping her apron onto the floor next to the foot of her bed, and proceeded to search the chest of drawers for any sort of substance that could wash the grime off of her body. Finding none in the drawers, she turned next to her pack, noting that outside her window the sun was almost completely gone. She searched all pockets and came across no such bounty she was looking for, until she remembered a little pocket inside the lining that housed small emergency toiletry items. A girl's gotta be prepared. Reaching her fingers into the pouch and coming in contact with something smooth, she nearly cried of happiness as she withdrew the item to behold a small bottle of motel shampoo.

'No excuse to neglect personal hygiene. I'm trying to draw a man towards me, not repell him.' At the thought Itachi a small shiver ran its way up her spine. The contact that took place between her and the elder Uchiha while here was usually brief, consisting of lingering glances and "accidental" touches mostly on her part (whether or not the touching initiated by him was accidental or if what she was doing was starting to take effect was unknown to her at this juncture) , not at all like her previous targets. Her previous targets had a taste for women who were a little more...forthwith when it came to their intentions. They did not require anywhere near the amount of delicasy that it was going to take for her to reel in a Uchiha who, like his brother, had no real known interest in any woman to her knowledge, besides a few alleged rumors.

Sakura exited the front door and hiked a small ways up hill diagonally away from the house. Soon she was under the canopy of smaller, younger species of tree that normally inhabited the edges of the forest, and the light here was much dimmer, so she slowed her pace to better watch her footing. After a few moments, she spotted an pool ahead of her, illuminated with what she knew to be moonlight, but somehow the water held it's own blue ethereal glow, which made the area around it seem void-like. As she approached the water's edge, she came to the realization that the moonlight was hitting of facets of whatever reflective stone lined the bottom of the pool, in place of the usual dirt bottom. It was really very beautiful Sakura mused, and she wondered not for the first time how the Akatsuki happened upon and seemingly owned this property.

'Probably through dishonest, unsavory mean,' Inner Sakura quipped.

Sakura began to remove her blood and sweat soaked clothing and experienced that odd feeling of cool night air mixed with the steam and heat emanating from the pool. She unzipped her vest, tossing it on a rock where her towel was already situated, far away enough from the water that it did not have the danger of falling in and becoming wet. She peeled off her shorts next, careful not to trip as she hopped from one foot to the other as she removed her ankles from the leg holes. Sakura grimaced at the amount of blood caked onto her shorts, thinking of how long it would probably take to wash it, or perhaps not be able to wash it at all. At home this wasn't such a problematic thing, but being away from a large supply of clothes and a nice washing machine, she felt like she was reduced to pounding the stains out with a rock like some sort of Neanderthal.

Sakura stuck her small toes into the water and hummed with happiness. Maybe not having a shower wasn't so bad afterall. She really couldn't complain about having a nice, long soak after a day of fighting. She waded to the middle of the pool where the water level was up to her shoulders and dunked her head backward, gasping at the heat of the water. Wading back over to the wall, she located her tiny bottle of shampoo and stepped out of the water quickly to lather. She shivered as she shook the bottle to get what little amount was left and hoped that it was enough to wash her hair and her body. After she had given her petal hair a good scrubbing, making sure to use her nails to get down to her scalp, she grabbed the small cup she had brought with her and filled it, using the warm water to wash the suds from her hair and body. She repeated the process a few times, and hastily hopped back into the water, planning on using that next chunk of her night to relax and forget about what she was doing here.

She leaned back against a bank that had a rather smooth rock that acted as a back rest, sweeping her cool hair out from behind her neck. Her jade eyes drifted closed and her mind wandered.

_Sakura inwardly winced at the shrillness of Ino's forced giggle, something that their target seemed to have an affinity for. Both girls had trained their voices to be higher and trill-like, but sometimes, when forced, like this very moment, it sounded downright ugly to Sakura's ears. Ino's blue eyes caught hers when the man turned again to his plate, and while the smile on her face looked real, Sakura knew Ino was far from happy, even if their mission was turning out easier than anticipated. It was amazing the amount of information a man would divulge to a "professional"; it was _astounding _the amount he would divulge to two whom he thought hung on his every word._

_When he said something she could tell he thought particularly clever, Sakura took her cue to also laugh, in her opinion, nasally, and declared their host to be most clever, followed by resting her delicate hand on his rather plump thigh. His smile immediately became lecherous as he let his gaze wander down to her bosom, which wasn't full in the least. Then again, this man didn't seem too picky. The fact that two gorgeous women were on his arm, and in his bed, was enough for him and he wasn't about to go being choosey. It was to be expected though, for all of his faults, the man had a mind for business._

_'If by business you mean an illegal slave trade of women kidnapped from everywhere across the map,' Sakura thought to herself with disgust, which she hid as she took a sip of tea. Apparently he had been transporting them through the most desolate parts of the desert and the mountains, which use of underground caverns, the railroad in the mountains, and the cover of darkness, not to mention a more than a few informants and contacts in villages along the way that were happy to hide the human trafficking for a cut of the profit. The two girls had caught up with him while he was not dealing with business at one of his properties in a large city, but not anywhere near, apparently, to his stronghold which he used as a headquarters and main trading depot. Ino, however, was sure that HQ was hidden in plain sight, and that her and Sakura should be wary that he might intend to use them as merchandise when they had fulfilled whatever fantasies he hid in the recesses of his dark mind._

_Sakura had spoken with Ino last night when they had made it back to their quarters, thankfully he had always asked them to leave when he was finished, and had estimated they had two more days and he would probably slip up and give them a small hint they needed. However, with Ino's more than likely proposal of his intentions with them, Sakura proceeded to put plan B into action. Ino followed her lead, using her touch as a distraction to him, this time leaning into his lap and whispering what Sakura could assume to be something tasteless. Sakura slipped a vial into her palm, which she casual passed over his drink in order to reach the kettle with which she would use refill her own glass. Ino offered him his drink without a word with a casualness Sakura admired her for, and the meal continued, with their bovine of a target none the wiser._

_Working with poisons had taught Sakura much along the lines of chemistry, making antidotes, and such. However, a simple truth serum was not as complicated as many of the chemicals that Tsunade had her work with. Making it tasteless and odorless, well, was something that had taken her a year to perfect. She hadn't ever been sure whether or not those down in interrogation appreciated her creativity. Though now all they had to do was slip some into the food of a prisoner, she had the feeling that deep down, they _liked_ forcing a syrringe into a squirming body. When the teammates noticed their large companion beginning to act sleepily, they convinced him to leave the table and his friends for some time alone upstairs. It only took the walk to the room for him to become near the state of sleepwalking, only functioning with the guidence of his two female enemies. _

_A seductively whispered "turn here" or "here, lay down where you will feel more comfortable" was all he needed to reach his bed. In the morning, when he awoke, a little groggy but not worse for wear, his two lady friends were no where to be seen. How was he to know they were already on their way back to their village with the information needed to take him and his whole slave trade down for good, and that in two days time he would be arrested and tried, and would eventually rot in jail for crimes against humanity._

Sakura began to feel her neck cool, and decided to move to the center of her small pool and dunk her head again, this time trying to rid herself of the thoughts that had wormed their way into her skull. She didn't really know how to keep the unwanted memories at bay, sometimes they just found a way to make themselves known. Sakura refocused herself into thinking of her current directive. As she compressed air from her lungs into her mouth and made a steady stream of bubbles, Sakura thought how far away she seemed from having any sort of physical contact with Itachi, thus how truly far she was from creating a rift in the infrastructure of their criminal organization. Sakura's head broke the surface of the water with all intentions to take a large breath, but hers caught in her throat. Crimson orbs filled her vision and she let out a squeak of surprise, which would have been a full on yelp had she any more air in her lungs. Finally finding her diaphragm, Sakura's chest filled with air. She searched for words, but she only managed a quiet whisper.

"Itachi." He continued to hold her gaze and she took a moment to gather her thoughts. Okay, this mission just went from snail's pace to breakneck speed, and she would have to adjust accordingly.

'And really? A hotspring? Could we possibly get _anymore_ cliche?' He stepped towards Sakura, and she stood her ground, focusing more on the sight of him. He really was gorgeous. His skin held more of a golden hue than of his younger brother's. His hair was damp and unbound and hung past his shoulders, and she watched as small trickles of water made their way from his neck, took a pause to dip over his collarbone to travel down his chest, which remained exposed to her gaze while, her own was hidden under water, not to mention behind her forearms.

'If he's been here as long as I have, then he's most likely seen more than my boobs,' she thought idly, relaxing a small bit hoping that he _did_ see, and him approaching her was because of that.

Little to Sakura's knowledge, he had been in the spring when she had arrived, but while the steam had hid him from her view, he easily was able to make out her form as she undressed and washed. The soft blue glow of the pool had caught and glittered on small streams and trickles of water as they wove their way down her body as she rinsed the suds from her pail skin. The young woman intrigued him to no end, her fighting spirit and loyalty to her friends stirred something within him, and her passion made her lovely. However, something was eating away at the back of his brain, as if she was more than she let on.

As he revealed himself to Sakura, her skin redenned even further than the flush that the hotsprings had brought to her skin, her pupils dilating so far that almost all of the jade of her eyes disappeared in the twinkling blackness that the water's reflection. She almost distracted him from his thoughts when she whispered his name, but he continued to advance upon her, but she didn't budge. His hand slowly reached out and his palm found her smooth skin of her throat with his thumb resting on her pulse. Itachi felt her throat move as she swallowed, and his eyes caught her tongue darting out to wet her pale lips.

"Interesting," he mumbled lowly. His eyes flicked to hers as she gave him a questioning look. "Your heartrate remains calm when faced with situations that should cause it to quicken. I noticed it first when you were informed of your role by staying here, and again as I touched you in a situation that most women would find uncomfortable." She spoke calmly as she replied, though he heard the tension in her voice, which probably was caused by her flexing her jaw in anger.

"You think that I would come here knowing that if I did, it would put my friend in danger? I would rather die than put my teammates in danger." she hissed in a dangerous tone, and she meant it. For Haruno Sakura, her team was her family. Her team were the people that really knew her and loved her for who she was.

"You care much for your teammates," his eyes watched her for her reaction, which could have been described as guarded at best," even your passed teammates." This time her pulse became stronger and he felt her anger as she pushed his hand away from her throat.

"Yes, I care about Sasuke, if that's what you're getting at. Unlike you, who left him in misery, leading a tormented life where his only thought is revenge, where he has no other purpose in life, I love your brother, and would do anything for him." Her voice had risen, and true anger showed on her face and glittered in her eyes. Her chakra flaired and seemed to claw at him as he digested her words, and what Itachi said next surprised her.

She watched his crimson eyes lower and become slightly unfocused. "That's very good to hear. He is very lucky to have such a dedicated friend." Sakura was shocked, and was unaware of how to respond. She had not expected this man, only known to her as a destroyer of clans and the one who ruined her best friend's life before he even had a chance to live it, to say something any normal elder brother would say. She scoffed and regarded him suspiciously.

"Why would you even care? How could you? If you did, you wouldn't have spared your brother, you would have killed him with the rest of your victims." Sakura paused at hearing her own words, her lips setting in a grim line. "But then again, I guess now you finally have."

"Everything I have ever done, even eliminating my clan, was to help my little brother." Sakura blanched and stalked (or as close to stalking one can do in chest deep water) up to Itachi to poked a strong chest with an equally strong finger.

"How could you possible think that destroying your family, your own flesh and blood, would help Sasuke? Leaving him with no family? He was just a little boy! And then joining an organization that is determined to bring down the allied nations, an organization bent on destroying his home? How can you claim any sort of reasoning for that?" Itachi gazed levelly at her, and fixed her with his gaze.

"I cannot speak of it," Itachi whispered, "but I can show you." And before she could avert her eyes, she was caught in his Sharingan and living his nightmare.

_Before her stood Sarutobi and a younger Itachi in ANBU gear, mask push away from his face. Sarutobi stood at the window, hands clasped behind his back, his face lined with exhaustion as he spoke of the fail of the negotiations for peace with the Uchiha clan. The coup-de-t'at that Itachi had warned him of was imminent, and there was only one option. Itachi, faced with killing his own family, took the order with grace and with his brother's future in mind, for he would not kill him._

_A feeling of swirling and rushing that left Sakura feeling queasy brought her behind Itachi, looking over his shoulder as he raised his Katana across his body, ready to rain a blow upon his victim when a shoji screen slid open in front of him, revealing a small Sasuke, eyes wide and trembling. Sakura felt a pang in her chest that she wasn't sure belonged to her heart as Itachi caught sight of Sasuke as he finished their parents, their blood spilling onto the floor. _

_She watched from a rooftop as he told his brother that he killed their family to test his skills. Sakura listened as he encouraged Sasuke to someday take revenge for their family and kill him. She watched as Sasuke woke his sharingan and pursued Itachi. The clink of Itachi's forehead protector hitting the ground resounded in her ears as if it was her own hitai ate. Sakura felt the sadness that flooded through Itachi's heart as he saw the hurt and betrayal shining in his beloved brother's eyes. She felt a ghost tear trail down her own cheek as one fell down his own. _

_It was her who bowed to the third to beg the village to spare Sasuke. It was her who threatened Dango not to harm Sasuke lest village secrets leak to their enemies. It was her that agreed to join the Akatsuki to make sure no harm fell upon Konoha from their doings._

_Then, Sakura's line of vision changed again. She was then the one that recieve a poke on the forehead from more youthful, softly smiling Itachi. She was the one that snuggled against Itachi's back as he gave her a piggy-back ride home. And it was her that heard him say, "Don't cry, Sasuke. Your big brother is here to protect you, no matter what happens."_

After what felt like an eternity, but was only a few seconds, Sakura emerged from visions of Itachi's past sobbing and clinging to Itachi's shoulders as he steadied her so she would not fall below the water in her state of exhaustion from the jutsu. Her bottle-green eyes gazed upon him with an incredible and almost unbelievable sadness, her hand reaching up to brush his bangs away as true pain showed in darkened eyes. Words wouldn't form in her throat because she felt so choked with emotion, so consumed with sadness.

Instead, Sakura wrapped her hands around Itachi's waist, no longer caring about their state of undress, and embraced him, laying her cheek against his chest as she did so. She saw one of his hands twitch, then slowly raise and then wrap around her shoulders, as if accepting what she was offering him: understanding. And that's exactly what he deserved in her opinion. Along with all of her friends who suffered from the decisions others made, it occured to her that this man, this_ young _man who also had no chance to live his life, has suffered and continues to suffer the most. Sakura gazed up at him, happy to see obsidian eyes gazing back at her. Sakura raised her chin, stood on her toes in the gravely rock beneath the surface of the hot water, and pressed her lips to the corner of Itachi's mouth, glancing to see his eyes flutter shut. Her hand found the back of his head, bringing it down towards her lips so she could press light kisses to his eyelids. Itachi's eyes drifted open as Sakura settled back down off of the balls of her feet. Itachi followed her as she lowered herself, and brushed his lips against hers, before pulling back slightly to gauge her reaction through heavy lashed lids. His lips met hers again in a slow kiss that manifested a shudder up Sakura's spine. The need conveyed through a simple touch on the lips was enough to send her mind and body reeling.

Thoughts no longer formed in Sakura's head as Itachi's tongue tapped hers and his hands found her hips, pulling her even further into him. Itachi's tongue stroked over hers sensually making Sakura sigh and dig her fingers into his damp hair. His fingers found her jaw, and Itachi gently moved Sakura's head so her smooth neck was better exposed to him as his other hand flattened along the plain of her back. His lips descended onto her throat, causing her eyes to flutter close and shift restlessly in his arms. She felt his hand travel lower on her hip and she tried not to stiffen in anticipation, preparing herself for the odd feeling of someone else's hand between her legs.

_Sakura lounged back on the bed with her robe loosed enough to reveal her pert breasts as she propped herself up on her elbows to gaze at the man she recieved as her second assignment, her first solo. He was a handsome man, charming and thoughtful, and, if circumstances were different, a man she would consider dating. He had been targeted because his father was a thief of high security items, such as classfied documents from Konoha and their allies. It was suspected that his father was being payed by someone, perhaps Kumogakure, to poke around and find the villages deep, dark secrets. The father, however, was only hoping to gain money from this and obviously had not thought of the risks involved. He was not prepared for losses he could face if things went wrong, especially not the loss of the life of his only son, Hideki. Hideki had been a nice surprise, and it was a shame that she was going to have to use him against his father and probably ruin him off of women for a while. To have a lover turn on you was one of the hardest things for someone's mind to wrap around and one of the best emotional blows that could be dealt. _

_As nice as Hideki was, she knew that she was not going to enjoy this. Perhaps if it had been her choice as a woman whether or not to take him as a lover, she could, but, things being the way they were, that was not possible. She watched him pull his shirt over his head and discard it somewhere beyong the perifery of her vision. Hideki lowered himself onto the bed, a knee wedging between her thighs to spread them as he kissed her. He made a motion forward, causing her to scoot farther onto the bed and lay down as he loomed over her, resting his weight on one forearm while the other ran its way up and down her front in a heavy handed caress, which, had this been someone she actually liked, was not particularly unenjoyable. Hideki's hand brushed over her breast, but continued past, and Sakura arched her back into him, purposefully brushing her nipples against his chest in a show of craving his touch. He wasted no time in finding dipping his fingers into her, and her eyes screwed shut in what she was sure Hideki thought was a pleasured grimaced, and her body squirmed in displeasure which she was sure Hideki interpreted to be writhing at his ministrations. Sakura forced a moan out of the back of her throat to appease Hideki. It seemed to work because seconds later he removed his hand, and Sakura tried her hardest to pretend she was somewhere else._

Unexpectedly, Sakura's back snapped straight and instead of a forced moan, a gasp escaped her lips. This time the insistent press of her hips was unintentional and the heat that flooded her cheeks seeped into every corner of her body, particularly where Itachi's attentions were focused. Sakura tilted her head back as her brows creased a breathy sigh this time passing her lips, and Itachi took this opportunity to support her as she leaned back, his hand finding her. Sakura bit back a moan, knowing this wasn't the most private of settings but not caring enough to make Itachi stop, while he felt her fingers dig into his shoulders. Her breath deepened and hitched with each deft movement of his hand which found ways to drive her to the point of thoughtlessness, and no sooner had he began was she falling apart in his arms, the junction of his neck and shoulder muffling the wordless cries pouring from her.

Itachi captured her lips as he withdrew his hand, feeling her shudder as an aftershock took hold of her body. Sakura felt light headed, but she wasn't sure if it had to do with the length of time she had been in the heated waters of the naturally occuring spring, or if having her first orgasm with a lover had gotten to her. She certainly didn't expect Itachi to bring her to completion in the spring, nor did she expect him to do so with his hand. She supposed it was him wanting to do something for her, since she was already doing something for him: accepting him and giving him the chance to be a person with her, not a high class ninja, not a criminal, not a traitor. Sakura rested her forehead against Itachi's, and he spoke to her, his voice sounding deeper and huskier than she was used to hearing.

"We should go inside." Sakura looked into his eyes, still dark, and nodded with a small smile.

"You're probably right. I'm sure we've been in here longer than we should, and we'll get dehydrated," she agreed outloud, surprised by the timbre her _own_ voice. Itachi exited the water first, and Sakura was able to look upon him for the first time. As it had for her, the light that the moonlight and the pool cast on the area highlighted the beauty in his body, which was, not surprisingly, strong and lean, one of an elite nin. He actually wasn't built all that differently from his brother, that much she saw of Sasuke, anyway. Just the thought of their relation brought sadness back into her mood, breaking the high of her orgasm and distracting her from the human perfection in front of her eyes. She wished Sasuke could have died knowing how much his brother loved him and the extent to which Itachi was willing to go in order to keep his brother safe. Sakura was drawn out of her thoughts by Itachi offering her an open towel, having already found his own.

She rose into the chilly air, and Itachi reached out and wrapped her into the towel as she raised her arms to accomodate him, his thumbs grazing lightly along the underside of her breasts. Sakura smiled slipped on her sandals and reached down to retrieve her toiletries, and the pair began walking back towards the house. Sakura fell into step behind Itachi, paying mind only to where she stepped as she thought of how off-track her mission had gone while oddly accomplishing her initial directive. Sakura was not supposed to become sympathetic to her target, but according to him, he was already on their side. But how is it that Tsunade hadn't told her this? What it even possible that she was not aware of this? She would definitely need to get into correspondence with her superior.

However, she wasn't supposed to contact her except in cases of extreme need, as every instance of contact caused extreme danger to the mission and to Sakura herself. Maybe she should continue with the mission, this time targeting, not through seduction of course, Kisame. He seemed to have a blase attitude towards his loyalty to the Akatsuki. If it came down to it, Sakura would much rather have him on her side during a fight. Now Tobi? She couldn't quite put her finger on Tobi. He certainly didn't seem like he was all upstairs, but he was an asset to this organization in some way, so she didn't want to underestimate him. Sakura decided she would leave that be until she had Kisame along with the plan. Better to handle one deranged criminal at a time, she decided. As Sakura finally drifted back out of her thoughts, she and Itachi were climbing the stairs. When they reached the top, Sakura felt Itachi's hand at the small of her back, leading Sakura to his door instead of letting her continue to her own. She gave him a small smile as he opened the door for her and she stepped inside, the light flicking on as he entered behind her and tugged a metal chain of a lamp beyond Sakura's sight.

Now illuminated, Sakura was surprised by the room, wondering if this had perhaps been a living room if a normal family lived here. It was a decent size, with wood floors, except for one area which had red bricks lining the floor and the wall where she noticed what looked to be an old fireplace standing in the corner of the room, metal pipes of the chimney zig-zagging their way up to the ceiling and out of the side of the wall. Nearer to her was a bed facing horizontally, looking like if a fire were lit, the heat would be trapped in the cozy little corner. A dresser similar to hers, but no where near the same state of disrepair. There were no windows to be seen, making Sakura think this was more of a den than a family room. So who's bedroom was the family room?

'What a strangely designed house. I wonder if all the homes in the area are built this way.' Sakura stood awkwardly near the door clutching her towel as Itachi moved passed her and opened the small door of the stove-like fireplace. Sakura heard the squeak of the hinges. Placing a few fresh piece of wood inside along with some kindling, Itachi knelt before the fireplace and performed a katon jutsu to start a fire. Itachi then switched the light that he had first turn on off, and the room was bathed in the warm glow of the fire.

'Nifty,' Sakura thought, watching as Itachi rose and faced her, his obsidian eyes fixing her with a level gaze while his hand rose in an inviting gesture. Sakura's feet seemed to move of their own volition, and she reached him sooner than she realized.

"Standing by the door farthest from the fire in a wet towel will only keep you cold," he pointed out, brushing the back of his hand down Sakura's exposed upper arm which was riddled with goosebumps. Sakura blushed and grinned sheepishly at her own silliness. Sakura followed Itachi's hands with her eyes as he unfastened his towel from his hips, blushing at the realization of the obvious want he held for her, even after the long stroll from the springs and despite the level of calmness he assumed. He placed his towel near the fireplace in order for it to dry and turned to Sakura, who still held her towel close with her hands. Itachi reached out and grasped each wrist gently between his thumb and forefinger, drawing them apart until her towel separated and allowing his gaze to drink in the sight of her. He took hold of the towel, tugging lightly, prompting Sakura to release her hold so it could join his own towel by the fire for drying, and she immediately reveled in the heat from the fire as it warmed her chilled skin.

Itachi reached for Sakura then, covering her lips with his own and pressing her petite body to front with his forearm the had wrapped around the tuck in her waist. Sakura responded immediately, the fire for him in her veins flaring to life as if they were still in the hot spring, her fingers finding his long hair again, thankful it was unbound so she could bury her hands in it. His kiss left her light headed and Sakura vaguely wondered in the back of her mind how he had become such a good kisser. Being a such a handsome man and elite ninja, he probably had a lover when he had lived in Konoha, though, she guessed that couldn't be an excuse. She was fairly certain by Ayame at Ichiraku's expression that Kakashi was very handsome and he was basically a social recluse. His tongue came out of his mouth to reach hers as their lips met after a quick change in the direction of their tilted heads.  
Sakura lightly chewed lightly on his bottom lip as her top lip found it's way between his teeth and a shiver raced down her spine. While Sakura marveled at Itachi's kissing prowess, he took the opportunity to move them from directly in front of the fireplace, both being nearly dry and plenty warm, by walking Sakura backwards until the back of her thighs touched the mattress of his bed. Their kiss broke as Sakura came into contact with the bed, looking back to determine the source of interruption. She soon felt Itachi's lips on her neck, followed by the scraping of his teeth, which raised goosebumps along her whole body again.

Sakura sighed, and let her hands ghost over his body, feeling the muscles twitch at her touch beneath his skin. She let her hands brush down his side to trace the diagonal line caused by his oblique she found at his hip. Despite Itachi's calm outer demeanor, Sakura could feel it beginning to crack as she again traced his hip, traveling lower this time, feeling his kiss to her shoulder possessing more pressure. Her hand found him and she heard a sharp intake of breath, and when she stroked him, she tore a groan from him. Feeling heady and wanting to draw more reaction from him, Sakura leaned back slightly so she could watch his face as she continued touching him. She wouldn't have guessed, with Itachi being one who so kept a calm facade, for him to be one with such earnest, open reactions, and she loved every single one: the small creased between his eyebrows as they drew together, shudders that seemed to race up his spine, small noises in the back of his throat, all of them, captivating. His hand abruptly found her hips, finger tips gripping tightly as Itachi, with a low growl gave Sakura a rush done to her toes, yanked Sakura further beneath him, causing her to cease her teasing with her hand and her hips to become flush against his own.

With the contact, Sakura made a desperate noise, one that she would have felt embarrased by if she weren't so heated. Her back arched and she pressed, feeling his want for her against her core. She was filled with a heavy headiness and a feeling that made her brain whirl, and she soon let herself forget why all of this was happening, let herself get lost in the endless sparks that shot through her body as she and her lover moved as one.

Later, Sakura would chalk up the haste with which they came to this point to a combination of strong emotions surging through her and to the need to create a binding contract between the two of them as the mission, one that had originally been his and hers seperately, now combined, was quickly becoming stale. A ninja's body is a tool, as Sakura had told herself over and over again, and nothing outweighs a contract signed with your own blood. She would sacrifice herself, use her body, everything she was, to end this once and for all. She would see to it her friends, her brothers, would find their happiness.

The next time it came upon her, Sakura felt it in her chest, felt her breaths catching, felt as she were grasping at the frayed edges of _something_, something she couldn't catch up with. And so, it took hold of her, flooding her what felt like pure adrenaline and filling her ears with a roaring sound, which she realized to be the rush of her own blood that her heart was hammering through her veins.

Itachi buried his face in the junction of Sakura's neck and shoulder, losing himself as she had to the pleasure wracking his entire body. He stayed braced on one forearm over Sakura for a few beats before easing to lay on his side over one of her outstretched thighs. His eyes closed as he gained control of his breathing patterns, and Sakura propped up with one elbow on her side, leaning towards Itachi to kiss his shoulder. Itachi's head turned and his eyes open to meet hers as she kissed his shoulder again. Sakura was graced with a small smile from Itachi, grateful and happy, and he reached out his hand to trace her jaw, pulling her to him so he could kiss her languidly. The fire still warming the room, the pair found no need to turn down the blankets and crawl beneath them, and were content to fall asleep entangled as they were.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

As the sun rose, Naruto, with his pack hoisted onto his back, took off in the direction of Konoha. Kakashi had left no room for argument, and none of his fellow teammates dared try to change his mind. Naruto resolved to sit this one out...that is, until he reached the first clearing they had passed where signs that Sakura and Sasuke still lived. He stopped, looking in the direction of Sasuke's footprints. He had promised Sakura a long time ago to bring Sasuke back to her, to the village, to their team. Naruto felt he was to blame for Sakura leaving Konoha to find Sasuke, and as a result she met with him and was injured. His sandals shuffled in the dirt as he changed direction. He may not be able to participate in the rescue of Sakura, but he could damn well find Sasuke and drag his arse back to Konoha by the time they got Sakura home. He would hold his team, his family together, no matter how many rules he broke and if it was the last thing he ever did.


	11. In Which There Are Only Two

**Long time no see! I wanted to point out a few things. If any of you reread the last chapter, you will see that the scene between Itachi and Sakura in their room has been altered. I like it much better that way :) However, full uncensored version of this and further chapters will also be available on AFF under the same pen name and story title. I would recommend reading it _if you're 18+_ because there's big chunks of writing missing that I am pretty proud of :P I have elected to keep the violence from the fight seen with deidara, sakura and the bandits unchanged on this site because 1. it's not that bad and 2. I am following the manga rating which is rated at 13+, while possessing plenty of violence. I think we're good. Anyway, enjoy!**

Sakura stretched her arms over her head, leaning into the warm body against her front and cracking an eye open. Itachi's eyes were still closed, but she could tell he wasn't in an entirely deep sleep anymore. His hand moved, sliding from where it had rested on her hip to around her waist, his arm snaking its way around her to tug her closer. Sakura released a sigh of contentment, the heaviness of sleep and the warmth of Itachi's body against hers giving her a pleasantly drowsy feeling. She probably would have fallen back to sleep if not for the devilish thought that entered her mind. Her mouth met his chest, and she kissed him slowly over his sternum. Sakura felt Itachi shift, a small intake of breath that was different from the rest her only indication of his change in consciousness. Sakura's fingertips applied gentle pressure against the bicep that crossed over her lat, gradually pushing Itachi onto his back as she untangled her legs and her lips continued to kiss and caress their way down his body. Her hot breath fanned over his hip, and Sakura watched Itachi's eyebrows twitch downwards in the slightest, as if his dream mind were trying to make sense of the sensations his physical being was feeling. Sakura took a beat to realize with awe that Itachi must really trust her knowing most shinobi would have lashed out at a foreign touch during their sleep. Kami knows that during the nights that she spent with her previous "lovers" -whether she believed them to be none the wiser or not-her body was on alert all night, her hand wrapped around the handle of a kunai, and the amount of rest she got was as lacking as if she were out in enemy territory trying to sleep in on a thin bow of a tree.

OOOOOOOOOO

Sasuke's eyebrows were uncharacteristically drawn together, creating a small bunching of wrinkles on his normally smooth face, making his appearance much more reminiscent of his younger genin days. He was quickly becoming inpatient with members of team Hebi; their bickering was getting on his last nerve, which were already whittled down to a small amount. Still being weak from the injuries he earned from his brother made it hard to do anything, and while Karin was healing him, she certainly wasn't moving at any impressive, or useful, pace. Not only that, but the team dynamic was beginning to wear on him. The constant fawning from his female teammate was something he could easily ignore, as he had done so many years before, but the bickering between her and Suigetsu made his right eyebrow tick. His mind immediately drew a parallel between his new teammates and old ones, almost wishing to replace those he had now to those he had in the past.

"Fuck you, Suigetsu!" shouted the bespectacled girl to his right, working on mending the tendons in the socket of his shoulder that had been pulled and torn during his battle. Sasuke wasn't entirely confident in rudimentary Karin's medic skills (if you could even call them that) which she developed in case she didn't have enough chakra with which to heal someone from a bite, but it was certainly favorable to letting the injury worsen. However, as Suigetsu continued to try to, successfully, rile her up, resulting in a reduced level of focus on Karin's part, Sasuke began to seriously consider the possibility of her making his injury worse.

"Be quiet." He spoke lowly, and without ire in his voice, but it was effective all the same, not counting the few grumbled comments from the peanut gallery. Sasuke decided he much rather preferred Naruto's lame-brained comments, followed by a simple, yet effective beating from Sakura. His eyes opened momentarily upwards toward the ceiling, not really seeing the stone of the cave, but instead recalling the green-eyed woman's face. To his chagrin, he could only recall her pained expression as his chidori ripped her body in half.

No one would understand, but he DID regret killing Sakura. Not only did it leave him THAT much shorter on chakra (energy that could have been put towards defeating Kakahshi), but she had been a teammate, a loyal one at that, and he meant what he had said when he had told her that Itachi would kill her slowly and painfully. Itachi could only be described as a monster, a sociopath, and a murderer. Sakura was soft and would have fallen quickly to his games and suffered a great deal from them. All those sentimental thoughts aside, the conclusion Sasuke reached was not any different that when he began to think of her: it was necessary to kill Sakura.

"Sasuke-kun," Karin began quietly, pausing to make sure she had the raven-haired boy's attention, "You seem...sad. Is everything okay?" Sasuke leveled her with an annoyed glare, then turned his head away in dismissal.

"Don't be stupid." Karin sagged and lowered her head, light flashing on her lenses effectively hiding her eyes. Having only expressed concern for her Sasuke-kun, she had hoped perhaps to gain a better understanding of what was going on in the broody head of his, not so unlike a pink-haired medic nin had done years prior. Karin hardened her reslove and became suddenly determined to heal Sasuke even quicker so he could take on his bastard of a brother. She would help him gain his revenge, then, and only then would he be free to love her like she wanted. A small smile graced Karin's lips, and Sasuke pondered.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO O

A pink head poked out of a doorway. Glancing left and right, Sakura checked for any signs of life in the house. Characteristic silence met her, which made sense because the morning was still so new, it was grey outside. Exiting and turning to close the door as quietly as she could as to not wake her again-slumbering partner-hey, after a few rounds of mind-blowing sex, who WOULDN'T be tired?-and turned, only to just miss barreling into Deidara. He crossed his arms across his chest as he regarded her, hair askew, dirty clothes in one hand, towel clutched to her chest with the other. An enticing amount of toned thigh was left bare, and a slight pink flush was still present on her down to her collarbone, dusting her cheeks alluringly. He tried to ignore this as he scowled down at her.

"So, that's the way it is, hm?" he asked reproachfully, and Sakura tried not to let him ruin her high. Instead, she lifted her chin in and answered him cooly.

"Yeah, that's the way it is."

"Are you out of your_ mind_?" he asked, voice raising an octave every word. Sakura shushed him harshly, looking back and forth again, making sure prying eyes and ears were not spying. With a free finger from her hand with her clothes in it, she snagged the front collar of his mesh shirt and dragged him down the hall to her room, trying her best not to stomp. Once inside, she shut the door and shoved his shoulder.

"Turn around," she ground out through her teeth as she grabbed a pair of scrubs the had borrowed from the hospital from her dresser. She hastily yanked up her pants, and as she slipped her shirt over her head, Sakura repeated the same command. Deidara did as told, more than a little begrudgingly, and he met the sight of Sakura in a green that matched her eyes and a look on her face that could kill.

"No, I'm not crazy. I know what I'm doing." Deidara looked at her in a way that was meant to belittle.

"I'm pretty sure I've got a good idea _exactly_ what it is that you're doing, yeah," he shot back.

"You know that's not what I fucking meant!" Eyes becoming a more vibrant green with her anger, Sakura noted her mood had gone completely sour, and she made no qualms about letting Deidara read it on her face. It was his damn fault after all. All he had to do was sit back and the situation would work itself out for him.

Sakura menacingly approached Deidara, leaning in as she poked him in the chest in order to emphasize her words, earning a glower from him.

"When I _tell_ you I know what I'm going, I _know_ what I'm doing. You've got to trust me if we're going to work together." Sakura saw Deidara's visible eye roll as he made a sound of disbelief.

"Oh, yeah. You mean the way you trust me?" Deidara asked sarcastically.

"I trust you enough to not blow this whole thing," Sakura said, not mentioning that once this mission was over, she wouldn't trust a blonde hair on that crazy head.

"And I thought I could trust you to do the same thing, but when I find you sneaking out of Itachi's room like a damn teenager, I start to question your judgement. You can't believe a fucking word he says, hn. He probably came onto you because he knew he could seduce you 'cause you're in love with his look-a-like, dead brother!"

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Kisame heard a loud crash as he walked down the upstairs hallway. Shrugging it off even though his curiosity was poking at him to check it out, he kept walking. It all happened in slow motion. Deidara, accompanied by large splinters of wood, flipped through the air space in front of Kisame's face, narrowly missing taking off his nose. The shark man's eyes followed the movement, gaze following Deidara's body until it became a heap of limbs on the floor. Slowly, he glanced up to where Sakura stood fuming, fist clenched, what was left of the bedroom door hanging from the hinges.

Kisame gave Sakura a look with raised brows. Reading his openly expressed question, Sakura cleared the flight of stairs, passing the unconscious blonde and muttering, "Didn't mind his own damn business." Vague enough to still leave Kisame in the dark until she could figure out if he was swayable. She wanted nothing more than to slip back into Itachi's room and his bed, to feel his skin heating up hers. But even that felt like it distract her enough to clear the lump that had formed in her throat and the burning that began nagging at the back of her eyes. She trudged down the stairs and out the door, feeling little satisfaction when it slammed behind her.

With her mission preoccupying much of her time and thoughts, she hadn't had very much time to mourn the loss of one of her best friends and the man she had once loved above all others, above her own home, and even over herself. She had let a few tears fall over her cheekbones during the time when she rested alone in her attic room, but had yet to be able to accept Sasuke's death and let go, unable to let her misery consume her as she knew she needed, knowing that if she had been stronger, she wouldn't have failed him and Naruto. She had become strong so she would no longer be watching their backs, but when it came down to it, she was still too weak to hold her own so he wasn't at a disadvantage when facing his brother. Sakura hadn't been able to mourn the fact that he hadn't even needed to avenge his family but fighting his brother, hadn't needed to die, that he died not knowing how much his brother had sacrificed for him, how much his brother loved him.

Though she had started her trek without a direction, she soon found herself walking through the doors of the hospital, mechanically pulling her hair into a ponytail as she stared blankly at her physician's coat hanging in her locker. Sasuke had given her the motivation, however indirectly, to become stronger. Without his departure, along with Naruto's, from the village, she would have never mustered up the courage to ask the Hokage to become her mentor. She would have never learned how to save lives, and while she saved so many every day, she realized that the one life she wanted, _needed_, to save was lost to her forever. It was because Sasuke, while not in physical danger, needed her, because she had failed him, because she was reminded of that _every day_, that she buried herself in work on a day when she wasn't even scheduled. She assisted surgery after surgery, stopping only to rescrub and glove, the cap that covered her hair becoming damp with sweat after her third surgery of the day. One of her favorite nurses, Azumi, had given her a clear look of concern when Sakura asked her surgical assistant to close up, though almost all of her face was hidden behind a mask. Sakura met her eyes, unable to muster any other look than pure emotional exhaustion.

When she finally pulled her mask down to hang from her neck, she leaned over the wash basin of the scrub room, feeling the burning behind her eyes begin again and quashing it down before it could overflow.

"Mei-sempai?" Sakura looked to the OR door, seeing Azumi entering the door, hesitating as if unsure of how to approach her superior. Sakura straightened, pressing a foot to the water basin, and let the cool water run over her forearms down to her fingers. She managed a false smile as she looked to her friend, so reminiscent of sweet Hinata with her long dark hair and ivory palor.

"Azumi," Sakura greeted, "I think that went well, don't you?" Azumi's eyebrows cinched toward one another minutely while she remained silent for another moment. She approached Sakura, standing in front of the faucet next to the ninja's, and went about adding some normalcy to their interaction by also scrubbing her hands before she finally spoke.

"As always, Mei-sempai, your surgical skills are a marvel, and we are blessed to have you in surgery," her light voice began with pure sincerity. Sakura heard another hesitation in her voice, one that could only signal a "but." "You seem unwell today Mei-sempai, not your normal self. Are you okay?" Sakura, drying her hands, allowed a small smile to pulled across her lips as she nodded.

"Yes, thank you. It was just not too long ago that I lost a dear friend of mine, and I am really feeling the loss today." Her voice was thickening she could hear it, and Sakura tried with all her might to quell what she knew would happen eventually today. Azumi also finished cleaning her hands, pulled off her gown and stuff it in the red bin.

"I don't mean to overstep here, Mei-sempai, but I would think this would be a day when you should be allowed to stay home and...mourn." Sakura's sad smile stayed on her face as they walked towards the locker room.

"Oh, I couldn't do that, Azumi." Her scrub nurse's eyes swirled in confusion, the grey of her eyes darkening to almost charcoal in color as she regarded Sakura with her head titled. "I don't understand."

"My friend is the reason that I began my studies in medicine. To not use the gift that I discovered only with his help would be disrespectful to his memory. It may sound crazy, but I feel closer to him this way." Empathy filled Azumi's face as she nodded, sending Sakura smiled that mirrored the nin's, both sad and wistful at the same time.

"I understand," the dark haired nurse began, "my late-husband inspired me to go into medicine as well." Reading the surprise in Sakura's wide eyes, Azumi added that where she was from, girls were encouraged to marry young. Though Sakura outwardly accepted the explanation, her brain concluded that her subordinate didn't look much older than herself, and, at nineteen, Sakura couldn't imagine having already been married. Then again, most ninja didn't live long enough to even _get_ married. Azumi continued with her story as they stepped into the small women's locker room, looking far away and detached.

"One morning, before the sun was even awake, a large group of bandits attacked our village without warning. My husband protected me, but it cost him his life. After the sun rose and those murderous madmen had ridden away with food and goods, the spoils of their raid, I was somehow supposed to face the reality of my dead husband, the love of my life that I had known since I was a child, had loved since before I knew what love was. I didn't want to stay and rebuild my home, remarry, and become as helpless as I had been. So I ran and didn't stop until I was far enough away that I didn't know how to get back. I became what I am because I couldn't stop thinking about what could have been if I had owned the skills to save his life. I wanted to make sure that would never happen to me again and to not allow anyone else to feel so helpless." Sakura had sat down on the bench, absorbing all that her quiet, unobtrusive colleague had said, feeling that when she returned to the Akatsuki house, she would be able to face Itachi without feeling the same pangs of guilt and loss as she had this morning. Her muted brown eyes met grey, and she felt herself pulled into the embrace of her friend, returning it with the same fervor.

Two women who had lost so much to the world stepped away from each other, Azumi apologizing softly, that sorry, but she had to get back to work. Sakura waved off her apology with her hand and a grateful smile, vowing to find a way to thank her beyonds words someday. She pulled off her cap and threw it into her locker with the intent on washing it on a day when she didn't feel so tired. Sakura was running her fingertips through her hair, henge seeping away as if it the dark colors were being rinsed away, as she entered the cool night outside of the hospital doors where the mist had gathered to hang among the town, giving the night a damp chill that reminded her of the coast. At the edge of the light cast by the hospital, she saw him standing there, in as casual of clothes that she had ever seen, pants and a shirt, with a pull over jacket instead of his clouded cloak, his civilian guise, she realized.

Sakura couldn't help but smile and realized how painfully handsome he was as he smiled back, his dark eyes lighting up enough for her to notice he was happy to see her. Sakura approached him, her arms encircling her torso in attempt to block out the cold, and she saw him bring his sweatshirt up and over his head, offering it to her even as she protested. Sakura pulled it over her head, reveling in the warmth from his body and the scent of him surrounding her.

"You are no longer upset." Sakura flushed in embarrassment, knowing he had heard her scuffle with Deidara.

"Did I kill him?" she muttered, feeling his arms encircle her, leaning into him and letting her head be buried in his chest. She heard his laugh-perhaps she startled it out of him-and smiled broadly, enjoying the sound. He opened their stance, but kept one arm around her shoulder to pull her to his side as they walked through the sleepy village.

"No. It would seem that you dislocated his jaw, maybe even broke it in a few places." Sakura winced, guilt seeping into her while she kept reminding herself that the explosions expert _totally_ deserved it. Though the mangekyo ate away at his vision every time he used it, he noticed her facial expression.

"I was surprised when I learned of your attack, but I imagine his lack of tact influenced his words." Sakura nodded, not entirely wanting to elaborate, but knowing that Itachi deserved an explanation. If she was going to trust him, it would have to be all or nothing.

"He accused me of sleeping with you because you look like Sasuke." The words were spoken so quickly, she knew they had rushed from her mouth. She expected him to stiffen and question her, but instead, he stayed silent for a moment, letting only the sounds of crickets and their sandals scuffing the packed dirt road permeate the night air.

"Before you say anything, you should know that was not the reason," she continued, not wanting to interpret his silence as newly formed doubt. A reassuring squeeze on her shoulder told her he thought otherwise. Their relationship, she realized, didn't need words. He understood her without her having to explain herself.

"You mourned for my brother today." Sakura nodded, feeling tears prick at her eyes again, but not stopping them this time as she nodded, her throat too tight to form words. They were just now on the main road, having walked so leisurely that the walk would take them more than an hour if they continued at this pace when it normally took Sakura twenty minutes when walking briskly. Itachi turned her to him and cupped her face between his hands, his thumbs wiping away fresh tears as they descended over her cheek bones. His lips pressed to her forehead, and she wondered as she let out a small hiccup of a sob, if instead of _choosing_ to stay quiet, this time he couldn't find words, the grief perhaps consuming him as well. They continued to walk, her sniffle breaking the silence periodically.

"I suspect that Kisame will be impressionable to disbanding the Akatsuki as we have planned." Sakura's eyes widened at his words, her head snapping to gaze at him, his profile stark against the white of the moonlit mist around them.

"You think this is something that we will be able to act upon so soon?" Itachi nodded. Sakura worried at her lip, realizing that her mission had reached near completion. She had Itachi, knew his loyalty wasn't to the Akatsuki, but her mission objective had been so open ended compared to the others. Usually finding evidence to end a man was her objective, though more experience kunoichi, she knew, had targets they were meant to kill However, she knew this mission wasn't a short term mission. This was one she had prepared to take on for years if need be, luckily for her she had only been there for over three months.

"I have my suspicions that many ninja of Konoha are not privy to your mission, perhaps thinking instead you defected to search for my brother. The odds of nin from Leaf coming to find you outweigh them leaving you to do as you please, especially the Kyuubi vessel. A heavy blow could be dealt with three Akatsuki switching loyalties to Konoha." Sakura nodded, absorbing what Itachi proposed as they broke through the mist with their altitude, the house in view as they continued. She became distracted as she weighed the possibility of Naruto being in the party that she knew Tsunade would have hand picked to "save her." While she didn't expect Tsunade to let him come, Sakura realized that not much besides extensive injury and his own conscious stopped Naruto from helping his friends.

Itachi watched as the color drained from her face and ran a soothing hand across her back. Sakura's eyes gained focus as they swiveled towards him, worry etched into her forehead. This time, his hand took hers, and he lead her into the house and to his room, shutting the door as she continued to fret over what he knew to be inevitable. A fire was lit before Sakura took notice of the chill the room held as she stood by the door, and Itachi was in front of her soon, a hand cupping her cheek and migrating to thread into her hair. He meant for his kiss to make the thoughts flee form her mind, this time wanting her to lose herself, knowing _she_ needed _him_ this time.

Though he controlled the kiss, he could feel it evolving to expose the hunger they felt for each other. Her hands ran up his upper arms gripping over his muscles as one hand gripped her hip tightly, the other tangling through her rose locks. Itachi reached for the hem of the scrub shirt and jacket she wore, pulling them over her head, letting the clothing drop to the floor next to them as he loosening the knot in her pants. He pushed them down over her hips leaving her bare to him as he pressed her backwards against the wall next to his door, knuckles grazing the underside of her breast lightly.

Sakura felt the cool of the wood of the old house supporting her, the only thing keeping her from drowning in the fire that Itachi sent blazing through her veins. She deftly pulled his shirt over his head as he descended to kneel, dragging his mouth down her belly and across her hip. Sakura gripped his shoulders as she felt his hands grip above her knees, spreading her legs and further exposing her to him. His hot breath fanned over her and she felt a sweet tightening begin inside of her, watched with baited breath as his tongue slipped out of his mouth to taste her. A sigh escaped her with a plea.

"Don't stop."

Sakura felt as if she were drowning. Sounds were muffled, there was a terrible burning in her chest, and the dancing firelight looked like sunlight catching the churning waters of an ocean. She slowly felt herself being brought to the surface by light caresses and soft lips against her skin. Kisses pressed along her jaw found their way to her mouth, and she sought the lips as if they were going to give her life sustaining breaths. Sakura reveled in the feeling of Itachi's lips against hers, of his heart slowing from a gallop against hers, and of his body pressed intimately against hers. As Sakura fell into a doze, sent off by tender kisses, she had no thoughts of her mission, of tomorrow, or of anyone else existing in this world. For now, all there was to Sakura's world themselves and this room.

OOOOOOOOOO

They were close, he could feel it. Sasuke knew his brother was less than a day's travel away, and this time, he would be ready for him. Team Hebi had elected to stay at a tavern less than a day away from the border of Kiba no Kuni, expecting civilization to start becoming a rare occurrence, expected when looking for a criminal hideaway. He was sat with his team, sipping a cup of water while they shared a small jug of sake, one of the few beverages the tavern offered to its patrons. Sasuke was trying his damned near hardest to ignore a tipsy Karin's googly eyes, noticing the flush on her cheeks and spread over the bridge of her nose and Suigestu had got her giggling like a civilian school girl. He rolled his eyes as he laced his fingers in front of his hangs, resting his mouth just below his fingers.

Karin watched as the warm firelight danced in Sasuke's dark eyes, felt herself blushing, knew she was blatantly staring but for some reason, she didn't care. All she knew was that tonight was the night that she would have Sasuke revealing his hidden feelings for her. She knew that the team and romance dynamic were a hard thing to pull of, but they so _obviously_ cared for each other, or at least that is what her fogged brain was telling her. Ignoring the other members of Team Hebi, who were too much of a good mood to pay attention to her anyway, Karin placed herself in her handsome teammate's eye line.

As Karin began to pour her heart out, Sasuke's eyes focused passed her, having heard the unmistakable tinkle of the bell from the front door of the tavern, alerting the owner to a new customer. He watched the middle-aged man turn the corner, heading for the front desk. Over Karin's drunken babbling, he was unable to hear who had come in, but became convinced it couldn't possibly be someone who was a threat to their team. Hunter-nin would not be so polite as to enter through the front door at a decent hour. Allowing himself this small comfort, he closed his weary eyes, resting them for only a moment before he heard a familiar voice. Red eyes snapped open, seeing orange, rising to see blonde, and widening as they met blue.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Kakashi's recovery team was weary. After weeks of taking the route suggested by Tsunade-sama, they had been led on wild goose chases, mostly from "intelligence" gathered from travelers and villagers who probably never even saw a pink-haired girl. Pinching the bridge of his nose in a frustrated gesture. He slowly surveyed their small team, who were rehydrating and crunching down on military ration pills. Sai was preoccupied with sketching, and Kakashi looked to what, or whom, appeared to be his model. His singular eye met Ino's, who gave him a weary smile despite being just as miserable as he. Kakashi's eye scanned to her left, seeing the movement of shadows cast by the sunlight through the leaves.

Something was off about them. There was no breeze on the forest floor, nothing to have moved those shadows, nothing to have rustled those leaves. A low, rumbling growl was heard and Kakashi stood, unalarmed by their new visitor, while Ino was suddenly looking more than alert, having been previously unaware of anything beside her. A jaguar slinked out of the shadows, leather straps buckled around her torso, showing a scroll strap between her shoulder blades.

"Kossori," Kakashi greeted as the feline approached him, relieved that the summon increased the chances that Sakura could very much indeed be alive and well. The spotted hunter rumbled her acknowledgement as she bowed her head so Kakashi could unhook the cover to the case that held the scroll revealing coordinates of Sakura's location. Kakashi's eyes, having pushed his hitae-ate out of the way, flew over the page, memorizing the location before turning his gaze back to the large cat, who had chosen to sit on her haunches.

"Why did Sakura choose not to send Kyuusoku with this information?" Showing her true heritage as a cat, Kossori hedged around the question.

"Oh?" she purred, "Not happy to see me?" Kakashi let out an audible sigh of frustration pass from him, and Kossori rolled her eyes.

"I was only teasing. You're no fun," standing, and stretching her back, the spotted feline continued, "Stealth was more greatly need that speed for this delivery, and I take no qualms in knowing that I hold that skill as a specialty."

"Did something happen to make stealth more favorable over speed?" questioned Sai, who's sketchpad bore the resemblance of a jaguar in the shadows.

"Ah, a perceptive human. I like that very much," she hummed appreciatively. "Jax encountered a ninja who attempted to capture him. He was able to evade him, but we can't risk our mission being compromised again."

"Mission?" Ino inquired, her blunt human nails finding a spot to scratch behind Kossori's ear, having met the cat on several occasions and knowing it was a favorite spot. The jaguar leaned into Ino's touch and let out a soft growl of appreciation, unable to produce a purr.

"The need to know details of which are described on the scroll in your mission point's hand. Though it is canines who are boasted to be the most loyal, you must trust me. Follow Sakura's instructions." Without presage, Kossori rushed towards the trunk of a tree, using her strong claws and limbs to lift herself to the nearest low lying bow.

"Now, if you'll excuse me, I passed the most delicious looking boy and dog on the way here, and I'm famished."

"You can't eat them!" Ino all but screeched, "That's Kiba and Akamaru, our teammates." The jaguar's ears flattened to her skull, Ino's high pitched reply being one of the most painful to reach her sensitive hearing for quite some time.

"Calm yourself human," she said, leveling her with a look of derision, "Again, I was only teasing." The team watched as the jaguar seemed to fade and blend until she was part of the canopy, glad to know a creature who could so jarringly sneak up on them so easily was on their side.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Itachi laid entangled with Sakura, propped upon one elbow as his other hand traced her cheekbones where tears had flowed earlier this evening, where the resulting flush from their joining still lingered as she dozed off. As he pressed a soft kiss to her brow, he resolved that though he had failed his family, he would not fail her, wouldn't let this mission ruin and consume _her_ life as it had his. This was the mess of many before her, the result of his own clan's mistakes, and Sakura was not one he wanted to see involved. He had hoped none after him would have to carry this burden. He pulled her close beneath the covers, knowing this would end soon and remembering the words he had vowed silently. 'I will not fail her.'

**Hello, my lovelies! Thank you to all who are favorite-ing, following, and reviewing my story :) Makes a girl happy to see people enjoy it! I hope you continue to read and enjoy. You all are the best :D**


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